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It is hard to overestimate the importance of digital connectivity in today’s society. Expectations of users – be they citizens, consumers, businesses or Government itself – are increasing as the cycle of the extraordinary becoming the ordinary speeds up. Whether it’s the commuter watching iPlayer on the train, a farmer uploading cattle movement forms, or architects storing large files in the cloud, we increasingly expect to do what we want at a time and a place of our choosing. This pull factor is matched by the increasing necessity of users to be online – from small businesses filing VAT receipts, to the discounts available online, to the increasing digitalisation of Government. In order to fulfil our potential as the world’s most advanced digital economy we will have to deliver fast, reliable broadband at near universal levels.

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The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) today announced that all of the UK’s leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now signed up to a voluntary Code of Practice in support of the Open Internet.

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The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) will launch a report into out-of-home internet usage at a ‘Future Demand for Data and Bandwidth’ event on the 10 November. (more…)

The BSG is currently recruiting for a new Policy Manager. For full details please see the full advert on the techUK website.

The Government this week launched a renewed push to raise awareness of the benefits of superfast broadband and the voucher scheme that is available to help businesses boost their digital connectivity.

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The BSG is currently recruiting for a new CEO. For full details on the role and how to apply please see the full advert on the techUK website.

Pamela Learmonth, who has been at the BSG for over six years – the last two as CEO, has decided to pursue a new challenge in the life sciences sector.

The BSG is currently recruiting for a new Policy Manager. For full details please see the full advert on the techUK website.

Our current Policy Manager, Charlotte Holloway, will be taking on a newly created role with our partners at techUK as Head of Policy at the beginning of March.

Richard Hooper CBE has been appointed as the new non-executive Chairman of the Broadband Stakeholder Group, taking over from Kip Meek.

Richard Hooper has had a long career in the converging worlds of media and communications. He has worked in both broadcasting and telecoms and was Chairman of the Radio Authority and Deputy Chairman of Ofcom 2002-2005. Most recently he led the Independent Review of the Postal Services Sector. (more…)

In a previous post I explored what the topics of discussion would be at the government’s Convergence Think Tank, and suggested that next generation access (NGA) would probably be a key secondary issue to public service broadcasting (PSB).

At the seminar yesterday, NGA was indeed discussed. It was interesting to see, particularly for someone fairly new to the debate, the level of interest and desire for NGA among the broadcasting world.

This isn’t surprising, of course, as it opens up a lot of avenues for them, but I was struck by one presenter’s firm conclusion that the PSB debate was the wrong focus for the future of the industry, and that superfast broadband was the most important next step. His view wasn’t necessarily shared by all in the room, but he wasn’t the only presenter to mention the importance of NGA.

Broadcasters aren’t the only industry who see benefit in NGA, and are clamouring for greater bandwidth. A key issue, though, is how will it be paid for. There is demand from industries and consumers, but is there a willingness to pay? This is a big question, and currently there is little hard evidence for investors to go on that suggest a return for their money would be likely.

The BSG’s ongoing research into the economic and social value of NGA has drawn on emerging evidence from the US, where Verizon have subscribers paying a premium for faster access over fibre. But until more is known about consumer willingness to pay, the business case for NGA will be difficult to make.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

STL, with their Telco 2.0 project, have recently published a report on Future Broadband Business Models titled ‘Beyond Bundling: Growth Strategies for Fixed and Mobile Broadband‘.

The report provides significant food for thought for everyone in the broadband value chain. Fundamentally, the report suggests that Telcos need to adopt two-sided business models that make more use of assets they have which they currently don’t exploit. STL estimate that there could be as much as $250bn in these new business models.

STL are providing the opportunity for the industry to discuss these ideas, and others, at their next Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm. The 4th in the series, the event aims to draw together everyone in the value chain, from telcos and content providers to regulators and investors, to discuss the future of the industry and the shape of the market to come.

The BSG are supporting the event. For further information regarding the Telco 2.0 4th Executive Brainstorm, please visit the Telco 2.0 website.

STL Telco 2.0 report overview

Many of you will have noticed the adverts currently being run by a particular ISP, which focus on the superior speed of its fibre-based network.

This campaign taps in to the importance consumers appear to place on speed – as is demonstrated by a recent BBC Online readers’ debate about Next Generation Access.

However, while headline speeds are obviously important to consumers, particularly when they are not receiving what they feel they are paying for, download speed is not the only important characteristic of a broadband service. There are other characteristics of an NGA network that will provide value to users.

For example, although demand for faster downstream speed is uncertain, there is more certainty about the need for greater upstream speed given the increase in user-generated content. ADSL and ADSL2+ technologies, however, allow a median upstream speed of less than 1mbps. Users would almost certainly benefit from a greater upstream speed.

NGA is about more than just increased headline download speeds.

NGA is commonly now being defined by a set of attributes relating to, for example, improved quality of service, consistency of bandwidth across users and time, less interference, lower latency, and greater symmetry between upstream and downstream speeds. These characteristics, and others, would improve the Internet experience and provide value to users.

Faster downstream speeds are certainly not the only benefits from moving to an NGA network. It is important that the benefits of the other, less-discussed characteristics are captured in the debate, as these will make an important contribution to the enhanced user experience that NGA networks will provide.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

The Department for Communities and Local Government has released guidance on ‘Data Ducting Infrastructure for New Homes’.

The note provides guidance to housing developers who intend or who wish to consider the laying of ducting on development sites, and within dwellings, for the delivery of data services.

The practical guidance in this document aims to:

• give developers the opportunity to consider the installation of infrastructures within new developments and dwellings to support the later provision of data services by third parties
• reduce the risk of ‘non-standard infrastructures’ (for example using ad hoc ducting types and topologies) leading to future incompatibility issues within different developments.

The guidance is not technology or service specific, neither is it intended to promote any particular cabling type, wireless solution and network technology or data service. Rather it aims to be generic to enable developers to make their own informed choice of the infrastructure model that is best suited to their development.’

DCLG guidance on ‘Data Ducting Infrastructure for New Homes’