Rural Broadband - the latest
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 1:35PMWe may need to see a resurgence in community action if rural communities are to get 'next generation broadband' which most urban communities will have shortly.
We may need to see a resurgence in community action if rural communities are to get 'next generation broadband' which most urban communities will have shortly.
Hi Simon,
rural communities have the real opportunity to seize the initiative and take control of their own digital destinies.
Mutually owned Fibre to the Home!
cheers,
Guy
Hi Guy,
I live in Blacktoft, East Riding of Yorkshire, at the 4 mile limit from the exchange, so I get broadband (just) at 512K. Would be interested to meet at Skipton.
John Pole
512k? Broadband? I live on the edge of Rugby and I am on the cable network. I get 20mps (about 40 times faster than you). This means I can access services you can't. What is worrying is that people are developing services (including Government) in the future that will assume the sort of speeds I have access to so things will get worse moving forward.
There you are. The digital divided demonstrated right here.
There's more information on this worrying situation and the implications for rural people here:
http://simonberry.ruralnet.org.uk/category/broadband/
No state subsidy for really really fast broadband... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7610692.stm Compare this to Google's plans to get 3bn people in Africa and elsewhere online http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7606824.stm what can we learn from the likes of http://www.kiwanja.net/ in the developing world where mobile phone growth has massively outpaced fixed line infrastructure...
Hi Simon, which ISP provides you with your superfast broadband? I am wondering if it is available where I live.
Hannah
Hi Hannah. I'm with Virgin Media (was ntl). It's only available where you can get Virgin Media Cable TV although I don't subscribe to that.
Thanks Simon. I will check it out.
Ofcom Consumer Panel say rural areas need to leapfrog urban areas and catch up. But Caio says the investment case is weak for FTTH, and not just for rural areas. (Caio has also towed the party line in re-defining next generation access down to what the telcos want to deliver to sweat the copper asset for years to come. It doesn't take a genius to look up his CV and realise why).
Apparently, none of us consumers (rural or otherwise) need better broadband, yet I don't see much evidence of us being asked in the list at the end of Caio's review.....
BSG fail to accept that now is the time for FTTH, as do BERR.
Yet, reports are coming out daily now showing that:
UK is 24th in the global league of halfway decent broadband (US is 16th) and we are being beaten by countries such as Slovenia. We do not even have the capabilities to deliver today's Web apps, let alone tomorrows.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7610534.stm
Network lags are causing untold lost work days to businesses - find and replace the word 'enterprise' with 'country'; 'employee(s)' with 'consumers' in this document http://www.dimensiondata.com/NR/rdonlyres/3C56B403-EC67-45A4-B738-E4831F94C985/10177/PoorNetworkPerformancePoorProductivity1.pdf
and start to wonder at the massive economic impact the lack of true broadband is having on this country.
Look at the figures for rural SMEs and how much they put into the economy. How much more could they contribute if able to work satisfactorily, let alone super-efficiently, as their counterparts in other countries can?
Environmental impact of true (FTTH) broadband? The FTTH Council Europe have produced figures showing that on this basis alone we need FTTH, let alone economic and social impact.
The costs of putting in rural FTTH or FiWi (fibre-wireless mix) vs the losses suffered as a result of much of the above now show that rural FTTH is a no-brainer - we must JFDI. The fact that communities need to even consider doing it themselves reflects on the poverty of thinking at the highest levels in this country. Thought leadership at grassroots level is now outstripping that coming from the over-paid fat cats in Westminster, ex-Lehman Brothers and so on.
This is not about making money available to allow isolated communities to connect to their neighbours, and potentially become islands unable to connect with the rest of the nation. This is not about fussing whether the cost to FTTH (with P2P FTTH) is half a Northern Rock bail out or a mere quarter. This is about building an infrastructure capable of delivering 21st century communications to a country still stuck in the mid 1980s, or worse.
Far better use of our tax payers money than the ID scheme (£5Bn estimate before it has even started so double it at least). The money will flow back to the Treasury coffers once we as rural users can communicate, work and live in the 21st century. And if government won't play ball and JFDI, then yes, us rural communities will get on and do it.
Broadband through a phone line is just another way for BT to wring more income from an obsolete technology. It is not real broadband. Real broadband comes through fibre. Until govt realise this then no pressure will be put on the incumbent to provide a decent service. This conference is the chance to inform them. What we perceive as broadband for the vast majority of the population is only a glorified always on dial up connection.
Light the fibre.
Let this country prosper.
Fibre to the home, for everyone.
Having lost most of our production industries the only way UKplc can grow is through service industries, and for that we need good or better broadband than our competitors.
Power to the people.
chris
Paul Tate ( http://twitter.com/pmtate ) has his say on Next Generation Rural Broadband here http://www.pmtate.co.uk/2008/09/next-generation-broadband/ which gives a good potted history of where we have come from
Some interesting views from DC10 plus:
http://www.accessibilityworks.com/dc10plusblog/
The developments at NYnet seem interesting:
http://www.nynet.co.uk/
There does seem to be potential for local authorities to install huge fibre pipes and then offer that capacity out somehow. I guess the difficulty is the politics surrounding that last mile provision.
I'm increasingly convinced that government has the wrong end of the stick when it comes to rural fibre. As someone who is seeking to develop a local community owned fibre network it looks to me (although I freely admit that i have yet to do the detailed research), that from an operational point of view small scale local fibre cooperatives can be run on a profitable basis. The catch is therefore how to raise the patient capital required to build the thing in the first place. I agree with the Caio review that the case for public sector subsidy is weak. however I do see the case for public sector investment. As a would-be network operator i would be happy if the public sector were to offer the investment required to build the network on the basis that they would get their money back, plus a fair return, over a 15-20 year period. The key reason why BT does not want to play in the rural space is that it can't see the business case. but for BT - as for other commercial operators - they need to give their city investors a return in 3-5 years, which simply does not stack up for rural localities. So its not that there is no business case, it is in fact that BT is focussing on the low hanging fruit where it is comfortable that it can meet the greed needs of it s city shareholders.
I note that you are Virgin customer, Simon. (Sadly they don't reach my parts, so I'm stuck with the "up to 8" crowd, which for me is 2Mbps on a good day at my office in Slaithwaite, and maybe 512Kbps at my house up the hill, for which I'm paying not far off £40 a month in total.) I wonder if Mr Branson might be interested in partnering with rural communities to build local fibre/wireless networks? A sound investment for him over the longer term, and it gains him large chunks of market share... Food for thought.
In the meantime, i agree that rural activists on this issue need to work together (as I am doing with the folks over in Calderdale) and get the point across to government that we don't need or want susbsidy, we just need the patient capital to get the thing set up.
By the way, I probably won't be going to Skipton, but I will be at the Next Gen 08 event in Manchester on Nov 4. See you there?
http://www.broadband.coop/Next-Gen-08-Conference/
This is really interesting stuff. One thing that strikes me is that BT's investment in next generation broadband access (NGA) is conditional: 'Plans dependent on regulatory regime and certainty'.
In parallel with this we need to give communities some reassurances so that they can mobilise to fill the gaps. We don't want to mobilise like many did a few years ago to have the rug pulled from underneath us by BT deciding it would enable exchanges after all.
We need a clear framework agreed by all parties (co-ordinated by the Broadband Stakeholders Group - BSG) so that the enormous energy that exists with local communities and be unleashed:
http://simonberry.ruralnet.org.uk/2008/07/19/state-of-the-countryside-2008-and-broadband/
PS: I'm hoping to be there Graham I even tried to book but there was a problem (mine) with the credit Card booking - will try again!
Having been through the community solution in 2003-5 I remain to be convinced that this is the proper way to go for Next Generation Broadband
as Paul H said a little background here:
http://www.pmtate.co.uk/2008/09/next-generation-broadband/
Paul
yep the community solution in 2003-5 was a brilliant initiative but as you say BT jinxed it all and govt fell for it hook line and sinker.
There had been funding made available for communities but when BT said everyone could get broadband the ministers and RDAs believed them. The funding pot was pulled and wasted on other things. It is still a fact that lots of rural communities (notspots) still don't have a connection and never will, and many have a pathetic under half meg connection. There is no chance putting these people on to next gen will be economic when you look at the profit to be made in cities.
If BT are to be allowed to cream off that vast profit they should be made to invest in rural areas as well before paying vast dividends to shareholders and bosses. If they aren't gonna do that then funding is the only way it can happen, because as you pointed out - communities get tired. Volunteers get another life. If the countryside is to regenerate it needs broadband. It is the one utility that will provide a lifeline.
chris
This article was in the news today - the small business perspective on the frustrating situation of broadband in our rural areas:
http://xpressdigest.org.uk/?p=12429?=xpdmail