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Monday 7 July 2008, 8:42 AM
Slow Broadband Dampens Business Edge
On September 18th, 2007, the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP (the then Minister of State for Competitiveness), said: ‘Before too long, the wider economy is going to need high speed broadband. The high speed broadband networks being deployed elsewhere for multi-channel TV will increasingly be used in other commercial applications.
‘The growing number of people working at home will require high speed connections to support them….all these trends are pushing up the bandwidths which are going to be required across the economy….services and applications coming onto the market will only be properly exploited and enjoyed if the bandwidth exists to deliver them to the end user….the infrastructure must be capable of delivering high speed broadband to all.’
Where did it all go wrong?
Britain’s comparatively slow broadband speeds are said to be threatening business efficiency, warns the Communications Management Association (CMA). This is because lack of provision to meet predicted demands will frustrate companies’ e-commerce operations.
Apparently, over a third of UK businesses predict they will need speeds of 100Mbps to be able to meet future demand for next generation Internet technology. Yet around a third say they currently do not receive satisfactory access to Internet technology - such as infrastructure, services and applications.
So what can be done? As businesses we should be banging on the door of Government to create a national broadband strategy that anticipates the massive rise in demand for next generation access (NGA) to the Internet over the next 12 to 24 months. Otherwise, the gap between Government spin and formulation of policy will grow wider than ever.
From Timms’ crowd-rousing speech to now there has been little sign of either a concerted or innovative approach to regulation and policy-making, which the Government acknowledged as recently as last September as being necessary.
Why can’t this Government get anything right?
‘The growing number of people working at home will require high speed connections to support them….all these trends are pushing up the bandwidths which are going to be required across the economy….services and applications coming onto the market will only be properly exploited and enjoyed if the bandwidth exists to deliver them to the end user….the infrastructure must be capable of delivering high speed broadband to all.’
Where did it all go wrong?
Britain’s comparatively slow broadband speeds are said to be threatening business efficiency, warns the Communications Management Association (CMA). This is because lack of provision to meet predicted demands will frustrate companies’ e-commerce operations.
Apparently, over a third of UK businesses predict they will need speeds of 100Mbps to be able to meet future demand for next generation Internet technology. Yet around a third say they currently do not receive satisfactory access to Internet technology - such as infrastructure, services and applications.
So what can be done? As businesses we should be banging on the door of Government to create a national broadband strategy that anticipates the massive rise in demand for next generation access (NGA) to the Internet over the next 12 to 24 months. Otherwise, the gap between Government spin and formulation of policy will grow wider than ever.
From Timms’ crowd-rousing speech to now there has been little sign of either a concerted or innovative approach to regulation and policy-making, which the Government acknowledged as recently as last September as being necessary.
Why can’t this Government get anything right?
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