Every community in Scotland now has access to affordable broadband services.
Now 378 remote and rural telephone exchange areas have access to broadband, thanks to an ambitious Executive and BT project. This is the largest project of its kind in the UK and is part of the Executive’s £24 million broadband initiative.
It means the government has met its commitment to roll out broadband to every community of the country by the end of 2005.
Wednesday 7 December 2005 10:29
Office of The Deputy Prime Minister (National)
DIGITAL CHALLENGE £9 MILLION ANNOUNCED TO DRIVE ICT INNOVATION
The “Digital Challenge” – providing the opportunity to create a world class exemplar of a “wired up community” – was launched today by Minister for Local E-Government Jim Fitzpatrick. The challenge is to use technology to transform the face of services, including local and central government services, to better meet the needs of local communities – including the most disadvantaged.
Government and Industry have provided more than £7 million, to be given to the Digital Challenge winner, as well as ten regional finalists who will each receive £200,000.
The successful bid will need to provide evidence of a highly focused and effective partnership of public, private, community and voluntary sectors. It should also make a real and significant change for the local community as quickly as possible.
Jim Fitzpatrick, Minister responsible for Local E-government at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, said:
“I am very excited by the Digital Challenge – it has the potential to bring real change to peoples lives through the innovative use of ICT. It will also act as beacon for service providers, government, and the rest of the ICT community on how they can make a real difference to ordinary people”s lives.
“I look forward with keen interest to see what kinds of projects will be developed as part of this challenge. The Digital Challenge will drive forward improvements in local services and in local e-government which are at the core of ODPM”s work.”
Digital Challenge has the potential to make a real difference to people”s lives, providing streamlined access to local government services, through a variety of channels. We look to the winning bid to meet three fundamental requirements:
Empowerment – The winning bid will be able to show how they will use ICT to give new choice, voice and empowerment to citizens; it should be about enabling citizens to participate in their communities, as well as gaining access to services.
Service Transformation – This must demonstrate radical innovation in changing how we offer services to people – using ICT to transform the whole way a service is provided; used and experienced.
Efficiency – Local Authorities must show that after year one their initiatives are sustainable and cost effective and be prepared to showcase these to other local authorities in years two and three, acting as the UK exemplar.
It has gained support from across government including ODPM, Department for Heath, The Department for Educations and Skills and the Department for Trade and Industry.
This is an update on the report by Oftel on Broadband Quality Of Service, published for the BSG on 30 July 2003
Europeans are signing up for broadband faster than ever research reveals.
The report by analysts Datamonitor said high-speed net services were popular because intense competition was driving awareness to new highs and prices to new lows.
Datamonitor said it expected the dash for broadband to peter out in two years time when European user numbers topped out at 60% of households.
It predicted that up to 8 million UK households will have broadband by 2008.
London, 23 November 2005
BSG Chairman to take Ofcom Role
Philip Graf CBE has been appointed as the new Deputy Chairman of Ofcom, taking effect from January 1st 2006. He will therefore step down from his role as Chairman of the Broadband Stakeholder Group at the end of the year.
Commenting on his new appointment, Philip Graf CBE said “I have enjoyed chairing the BSG over the last year. I am sure the insights I have gained will prove invaluable in my new role.” He added: “The sector is changing rapidly; and it is more important than ever for industry to engage with policy makers and regulators. The BSG provides a unique forum for that dialogue and will have my continued support in my new role at Ofcom.”
Antony Walker, CEO of the BSG said, “I’d like to thank Philip for the fantastic contribution he has made as Chairman of the BSG over the last year. With his background in the media, Philip brought unrivalled expertise to the BSG and helped shift the debate towards the exploitation of broadband by the public and private sectors and the development of new content, services and applications. It has been a pleasure working with him and I’d like to wish him every success in his new role.???
The BSG will to appoint a new Chairman early in the New Year.
November: Telecomms
One of a series of five thought-provoking seminars hosted by Intellect and the WDA (Welsh Development Agency):
Thursday 17 November 2005 – TELECOMS
From 17:00 – 20:00 hrs @ Intellect Conference Suite, Russell Square House 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EE
The ‘After 5’ seminar series looks at topical issues relating to: outsourcing; telecoms; data security; GRID computing and telematics – highlighting different perspectives on offer to nimble technology companies.
The Speakers for this Thursday 17 November will be:
Andy Williamson, CTO, Broadband Wales and Ann Benyon, Director, BT Wales
The telecoms industry is responding to demand for broader-band services, but what happens next? Join us at the ‘After 5′ Telecoms seminar which will take a look at issues surrounding this topical subject.
Broadband Wales’ CTO, Andy Williamson will examine the future of communications, mobility and convergence and how these increasingly impact on today’s sophisticated IT systems. Andy will explain how Wales is gearing up its broadband infrastructure to meet these imperatives.
Ann Beynon will give an overview of BT’s investments in Wales, such as the 21st Century Network (21CN) – the world’s most radical next generation network transformation programme – and the challenges this presents. Ann will set this against the backdrop of BT’s significant investments in Wales, such as its datacentre.
Dates for future seminars in 2006:
The homeless should be given broadband internet access, John Prescott’s office has said in a new report.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister believes digital technology could be a lifeline for people on the streets.
It says many homeless people already use the internet and mobile phones to look for work and accommodation.
And it wants to build on this by encouraging homeless hostels and community centres in deprived areas to install broadband access.
In March 2005 the European Council agreed to re-launch the Lisbon agenda to focus it more sharply on the key priorities of jobs and growth. Subsequently, the Integrated Guidelines package, endorsed by the European Council in June 2005, identified the key challenges facing the EU as a whole. Member States were then invited to identify their own reform priorities and present forward-looking reform plans to the European Commission by 15th October 2005.
The UK’s first National Reform Programme was published on 13th October 2005. It sets out the challenges currently facing the UK economy, and details the Government’s forward looking agenda of economic reforms to ensure macroeconomic stability, to deliver higher productivity growth and to increase employment opportunity for all.
The trial starts next month and will help prepare the so-called “Max” service, which offers speeds of up to 8Mbps (megabits per second).
BT’s broadband network currently offers download speeds of up to 2Mbps.
The telecoms giant is lagging behind some of its rivals which have already started offering much faster connection speeds of up 24Mbps.
BT said it was committed to ensuring that everyone could take advantage of the “broadband revolution” wherever they live in the UK.
Point Topic’s World Broadband Statistics for mid-2005 show a number of clear trends:
EU Commission warned of the consequences to the European content and new media industry if proposed plans to update the TVWF Directive with a new Audio Visual Content Directive go ahead
Intellect and the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) have today issued a joint plea to the EU Commission, asking it to withdraw its commitment to publish a draft Audio Visual Content Directive by the end of the year. The trade association for the UK hi-tech industry and the Government’s advisory group on broadband consider the proposed approach to policy regulation to be totally unworkable, and an attempt by the EU to regulate the internet via the backdoor.
BSG responds to the Proposals for Revision of Television Without Frontiers Directive Consultation on Issues Papers.
