The Broadband Stakeholders Group (BSG), which advises the
Government on enabling faster Internet access in the UK, is to
refocus on business needs, following criticism from within the
group and a lack of interest in broadband services among
businesses.
During a two-day conference in late November, the BSG will report
on its first year's work and outline its role for the future -
which is expected to focus on business needs. The Department of
Trade & Industry will also launch its Regional Broadband Unit
focused on stimulating the use of broadband among small businesses,
working with regional broadband advisers and regional development
agencies.
The BSG was set up last year to help the Government achieve its
goal of making sure "the UK has the most extensive and competitive
broadband market in the G7 by 2005".
But the group has been beset by problems. Some BSG members believe
it lost its way when some telcos began to boycott meetings six
months ago, after discussions on the slow pace of local loop
unbundling and the restructuring of BT were quashed.
"Fewer companies of size and importance - with the exception of BT
- are turning up to meetings and engaging in the process, partly
because controversial subjects such as BT restructuring are
off-limits," said an executive at a large telco who is a member of
the BSG.
A second BSG telco said the unbundling process was not serving
business needs. An executive pointed out that while about 1,000
exchanges had been unbundled, a business could use only one local
loop, so there is little alternative to BT. "BSG should be
abolished and replaced with an independent body," he said.
Meanwhile, a survey by industry regulator Oftel has found that
fewer than 10% of small and medium-sized businesses have invested
in broadband.
A BSG executive argued that it is no longer necessary to
concentrate on the setting up of the country's broadband
infrastructure because BT's service now covers two thirds of the
country.
"A key role for the BSG is to act as broker between the user
community and the suppliers," said Antony Walker, a member of the
BSG's executive board. He added that, for the small number of
telecos for which BT break up and local loop unbundling are central
issues, the BSG has not been very successful.