Press release
The three main political parties agree that ‘Digital Britain' is important to ensure competitiveness in the modern economy, but how do their respective policies to deliver a strong digital economy vary?
Last year, the government produced the Digital Britain Report which made several recommendations, including the establishment of a Universal Service Commitment of providing almost everyone in the UK with a 2Mbps broadband service by 2012. In addition, it included recommendations for delivery of next generation broadband and other concerns such as how to tackle copyright infringement. Many of these issues are now being tackled in various pieces of legislation, including the Digital Economy Bill.
Labour Policy (Government)
- Universal Service Commitment (USC) of 2Mbps by 2012 to ‘virtually' everyone in UK[1] funded by the surplus from Digital Switchover fund.
- ‘Next Generation Broadband' available to 90 per cent of UK by 2017[2] funded by 50 pence (excl VAT) per month levy[3] on fixed phone lines which is expected to raise £1bn over seven years. This will fund next gen broadband to the ‘final third' where the market is unlikely to deliver a service without some intervention. It is expected that some exemptions (such as those on the BT Basic social telephony tariff intended to ensure every household has access to a phone line) will be announced in due course.
- In a speech this morning, Gordon Brown said that proposals for online delivery of government services "depend on reaching 100 per cent" coverage of next generation broadband and that by 2020 he expects "to make Britain the leading superfast broadband digital power creating 100 per cent access to every home". We may see additional detail in the Budget on Wednesday.
Conservative Policy
- Supports 2 Mbps ‘universal access' by 2012 funded by surplus from Digital Switchover fund.
- Next Generation Broadband: 100Mbps to ‘majority of homes' by 2017 funded possibly by using a proportion of BBC license fee at any point beyond 2012 (end of the current licence fee settlement). Funds would be used as loans or on a ‘matched funding' basis.
- BT should open up access to underground ducts and overground telegraph poles so competitors can lay their own fibre (like in France/Singapore).
- Change rating system for fibre networks to remove ‘all current disadvantages suffered by new operators'.
- Believes intervention may be necessary in due course for next-generation broadband, but market should be given a chance first.
Liberal Democrat Policy
- Supportive of government USC plans for 2Mbps by 2012 funded by digital switchover surplus; Essential to have a minimum standard of service but 2Mbps is an ‘unambitious target'.
- Universal Service funding should be combined with a project for rollout of next generation broadband, so those who can't get broadband would get next generation broadband sooner.
- Mobile broadband could have a role to play in hard-to-reach areas. Effective use of spectrum is important.
- Would like to see ‘vast majority' of the country being able to access 40Mbps+ by 2017.
- Need immediate intervention/funding to target areas unlikely to be reached by next generation broadband by the market (the "final third"). Would adopt ‘outside in' approach (start funding the most rural of areas first), but admits "it won't be possible for absolutely everyone to receive next generation access" immediately.
- Oppose Conservative policy to top-slice the BBC license fee.
- Support 50p/month levy "if applied properly and with exemptions for the least well off"
- Welcome BT decision to open up ducts.
- Need to encourage more services that make use of high speed broadband, including national and local government services, to drive demand.
BT is in the process of rolling out fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) services which will be able to deliver up to 40 Mbps (potentially more) and Virgin Media is already providing a 50 Mbps service which is available to over 50% of the homes in the UK, with trials under way for 100 and 200Mbps services. Thinkbroadband.com believes therefore that the key question will be what percentage of homes and businesses will have access to 100Mbps by 2017? The challenging target will be in the 80-100 per cent range.
"The main political parties all accept the importance of securing a strong digital future with super-fast broadband, but each has made vague promises, leaving out some crucial factors that would allow us to hold them to account if they form part of the next government," comments Sebastien Lahtinen, co-founder of thinkbroadband.com. "We see some differences in the plans for how next generation broadband will be funded, in particular the level and timing of government intervention, but we don't have clarity from any party on both the question of what ‘next generation' broadband means in terms of speeds, and how universal will access to this high speed broadband be? In other words, will they guarantee that every single household will get it?" he adds.
In research carried out by thinkbroadband.com in 2009, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have generally lagged behind the other UK regions in terms of broadband speeds, so voters in those areas should also consider policies of other main parties involved in devolved administrations.
[1] There is no clarity about whether this should be the minimum sustainable speed at all times, or if this means an ‘up to 2 meg' service. Other parties do not discuss quality/upload speeds in any detail either.
[2] Digital Britain Report, para 52.
[3] Digital Britain Report, para 57.
