Nothing less than the future of the British economy
hangs on communications minister Lord Stephen Carter’s view of what
telecommunications network the UK needs. Or so say
some.
The attitude of most businesses was summed up by the
Communications Managers Association. It told the government,
“Business users are not so much concerned about the operational and
networking complexity required to deliver the seamless connectivity
they require as they are about the quality, affordability and
choice of applications and services.”
It said businesses increasing difficulties obtaining seamless,
cross-border connectivity because of the increasingly fragmented
technology, standards and supplier landscape.
But for communications equipment suppliers, recabling the nation
to give each household an optical fibre connection to super-fast
national broadband networks looks like a god-send. Not only would
it boost their income by some £28bn, it would require most people
to upgrade their home PCs, phone sets and television sets. This
would add many more billions to the national gross domestic
product.
Other voices have suggested building the broadband highways
would create tens of thousands of jobs in construction, in selling
and fitting the new equipment, and in the “creative industries”,
notably broadcasting, film and music.
Carter aims to balance these competing views against the
government’s own agenda and resources.
Opinions on the interim report, published 30 January
2008
Here you will find background to the debate so that you can form
your own views.
See also:
Vtesse submissions to Caio:
This chart for the 2000 list shows the rate paid
per “lit” i.e. working fibre. As the chart shows, the more fibres
that are lit, the less the network operator pays per fibre. This
massively discourages the entry of smaller operators and their
customers, who must pay a relatively higher unit cost to use
optical fibre links. What it can’t show is BT’s special treatment
by the valuation authorities, whereby BT’s valuation rate for lit
fibre is bundled into a single overall fee paid on all BT
buildings, cables and other infrastructure.
