Govern please, ciao
Back in February of this year, the Department for Business and HM Treasury commissioned an independent report into what it will take for the UK to develop a broadband network sufficient to keep its economy competitive.
With the frantic urgency we've come to expect from government commissioned reviews, the head of the review - Francesco Ciao - took a mere seven months to conclude that the State should help out with the development of this piece of national infrastructure.
Luckily for the State, Ciao doesn't think it needs to do that much and there is little urgency for even that. "Although demand for bandwidth and Internet traffic continues to exhibit strong growth, there is little evidence that in the short term the UK is going to suffer from the lack of an extensive next generation access network," declared Ciao.
"I have therefore concluded that the case for a public intervention at this time is weak at best. But it is the right time to create the conditions that will deliver a competitive NGA [next generation access] infrastructure in the next five years"
This strident call to arms urges the Government to actively monitor the situation and to somehow intervene to lower rollout costs "without distorting the market." Here are some of the ways it recommends this be achieved:
- Supporting the development of local access networks by helping them organise and develop common standards;
- Allowing NGA to be delivered over new overhead lines, by relaxing rules that currently prevent this;
- Working with the construction industry to ensure all new homes have next generation broadband; and
- Supporting Ofcom to ensure spectrum auctions take place soon.
Just in case the need for a not very urgent watching brief hadn't already been emphasised enough, Ciao added: "The government needs to play its part across a number of areas in supporting development of NGA. It cannot afford to be complacent." Perish the thought.
The Government was clearly moved by Ciao's urgings, with Business Secretary John Hutton promptly announcing: "We will consider his recommendations as we plan how to make sure the UK remains one of the world's leading Internet economies. We want to create the right conditions for private sector investment and stand ready to play our part in ensuring the UK has a competitive infrastructure in the years to come."
That's that sorted then.
