News

06 Feb 2014

DCMS publishes Terms of Reference for Digital Communications Infrastructure Strategy to 2025

DCMS has today published the Terms of Reference of the Digital Communications Infrastructure Strategy, as was announced in the Connectivity, Content and Consumers policy paper last July. This strategy will play an important role in ensuring that the UK has the right infrastructure in place to meet the needs of users in 2025-30 and ensure that the UK remains a leading digital nation.

The Terms of Reference cite BSG’s work on future domestic bandwidth requirements in the document, and the BSG will continue to work closely with DCMS on this area, as part of our 2014 work programme. DCMS has said it is keen to gather views on future demand for connectivity, the drivers for that demand, how this demand can be met and who needs to do what to ensure our infrastructure is capable of meeting user demand over the next 10-15 years. (more…)

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05 Feb 2014

CEO’s monthly update – 2014: a busy quarter ahead

Pamela Learmonth2014 promises much for those in the broadband industry, and it’s all eyes to the policy sphere to help smooth the way for rollout and take-up of connectivity to realise the social and economic gains for the UK.

The first quarter of 2014 alone promises much in the way of further detail on the Government’s Digital Communications Infrastructure Strategy, the £250m BDUK superfast extension programme and the £10m innovation fund. From DCMS, we can also expect the publication of the Spectrum Strategy, and from the GDS team in the Cabinet Office the forthcoming Digital Inclusion Strategy can be expected to have reverberations across government. In UK Parliament, the Consumer Rights Bill has been introduced and the Intellectual Property Bill is progressing, currently at amendments stage. In Europe, all eyes to Commissioner Kroes as the Connected Continent package has a limited amount of time to pass before election season. (more…)

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13 Jan 2014

Future bandwidth demand features at CES 2014

Another new year, another Consumer Electronics Show, where Las Vegas plays host to the latest developments in consumer technology. There’s been plenty of coverage on the weird and the wonderful in the press, but at the BSG we’ve been interested to note a growing conversation about bandwidth needs for the cutting edge products poised to dominate the market.

UHDTV or 4K video streaming has been a notable highlight. Firstly, Google showcased their low-bandwidth 4K YouTube streaming called VP9, and have been working closely with a range of the big electronics firms and device manufacturers on its implementation. Netflix also took to the stage to promote its 4K services, with CEO Reed Hastings stating will require 15Mb/s of bandwidth compressed using HEVC. Interestingly, Broadcom also announced 5G Wi-Fi chips for tripling bandwidth in wireless home networking. (more…)

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17 Dec 2013

CEO’s monthly update – innovation, vouchers and the UK’s future bandwidth needs

Pamela LearmonthIt’s been a non-stop 2013 for broadband and telecommunications policy, and the last month has been no exception. New money for innovative technologies for the hardest to connect areas of the UK was announced by Danny Alexander MP in the form of a £10m new fund – read our roundup of what the Autumn Statement and National Infrastructure Strategy announcements mean for the broadband community here.

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16 Dec 2013

Vaizey hails urban vouchers as 'breaking new ground', as scheme rolls out in 22 cities

SCCThe Vouchers component of the Government’s Super Connected Cities programme (also known as the Urban Broadband Fund) launched across 22 cities as part of Small Business Saturday on Saturday 7 December. The voucher scheme represents up to £100 million of the £150 million being overseen by BDUK and managed by cities to provide a step change in connectivity for businesses in urban areas.

Today in a written statement to parliament, Communications Minister Ed Vaizey MP said that “the market tests in 5 cities over the summer have showed that suppliers and SMEs want to participate in the Scheme, with over 60 suppliers registered for the market tests and an increasing number now registering for the full scheme.??? (more…)

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05 Dec 2013

New money for innovative technologies as 2017 superfast broadband landscape becomes clearer

The Government has treated the broadband community to a new announcement and restatements of intent as part of this week’s Autumn Statement and National Infrastructure Plan.

The main new funding announcement from yesterday’s National Infrastructure Plan was the opening of a £10 million competitive fund in 2014 to market test innovative solutions, delivering superfast broadband services to the most difficult to reach areas of the UK. The BSG welcomes this fund; an intelligent blend of different technologies (including fixed, mobile and other solutions) will be crucial in reaching the government’s ambition for 99% access to superfast broadband by 2018. (more…)

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15 Nov 2013

UK Broadband Impact Study published

The DCMS-commissioned UK Broadband Impact Study by SQW was released yesterday morning, and was welcomed by Culture Secretary Maria Miller MP who said “What this report shows us is that as well as superfast broadband being good for economic growth it will make even more of a positive impact on the way we live, helping us work more productively and get online faster.”

The study estimates that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds will add about £17 billion to UK GVA by 2024. This level of uplift contributes an average of 0.07 % to real annual GVA growth over this period.

The study estimates the following economic results relating to interventions made by the Government’s broadband programme: (more…)

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05 Nov 2013

BSG publishes new model for analysing domestic demand for bandwidth

Today the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) published a report outlining a new way for measuring and forecasting demand for bandwidth in UK homes. The group called for greater policy attention to be given to how demand relates to infrastructure provision.

Pamela Learmonth, CEO of the BSG said, “Despite global interest in whether broadband infrastructure is currently meeting demand and will continue to do so, there is a lack of evidence and methodology available to inform this critical question. This was our key motivation for commissioning new research in this area and this study presents a technology-neutral approach to forecasting demand, rooted in the applications consumers want to access.???

The model for forecasting bandwidth demand, used in the BSG’s report, combines the usage profiles of various applications with the usage of profiles of individuals.  These individual profiles are then combined into various household profiles. 156 household profiles are modelled in the report, based on demographics, intensity of use and TV type. The household profiles have also been combined to create a picture of national demand. (more…)

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10 Oct 2013

CEO's monthly update – parliament gets back into the swing of things?

Pamela LearmonthA short update from me this time as I return from speaking to the World Economic Forum on how we deliver on digital infrastructure, after a September punctuated by party conference season and the publication of the Public Accounts Committee report following the enquiry into rural broadband.

There’s been lots of activity over at Ofcom, with Chief Executive Ed Richards challenging the industry to deliver on switching. Ofcom published their Spectrum Management Strategy which will review Ofcom’s approach to and priorities for spectrum management over the next ten years. This comes soon after the launch of the Intellect-led Spectrum Forum supported by Minister Ed Vaizey (check out the #SpectrumFuture hashtag from updates and discussion from the day). (more…)

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26 Sep 2013

Public Accounts Committee publishes report following enquiry into rural broadband

This morning the Public Accounts Committee published their final report following their examination of the Government’s rural broadband programme.

The report focuses its attention on areas where the committee believed BT and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport could have acted in a way which brought better value for money for the tax payers.

The recommendations from the report are as follows: (more…)

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24 Sep 2013

BSG CEO to speak on Demand for Superfast Broadband at International Conference

 

WIK

Our CEO Pamela Learmonth is speaking on the empirical evidence behind the demand for superfast broadband at the WIK International Conference in Bonn on 25th November 2013. Drawing on insights from BSG’s influential report Demand for Superfast Broadband, Pamela will speak on understanding demand in Europe, the US and Asia, giving consideration to how the UK is currently performing and what might impact take-up in the UK in the future. (more…)

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20 Sep 2013

European Commission adopts new regulatory proposals for a ‘Connected Continent’

 

EU BroadbandLast week Commissioner Neelie Kroes announced the European Commission adoption of a series of new regulatory proposals in this memo on ‘The Connected Continent’. It’s been met with a mixed reaction from the UK. At the Broadband Stakeholder Group we will be continuing to keep a close eye and engage with these developments, and we’ve put together a quick overview of the main areas the memo addresses below: (more…)

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13 Sep 2013

CEO’s monthly update: Commissioner Kroes pushes on

 

Pamela LearmonthThis week we have seen the adoption of regulatory proposals by the European Commission which will have a knock on effect right across the industry for the open internet, spectrum release, the extension of transparency requirements on bundles for Pay TV, switching practices, and an end to charges for roaming in the EU. Commissioner Kroes has stated a longer term intention, as is well-known across the industry: “Until the single telecoms market is in place, the Commission will not propose a single regulator. This is not the optimal solution for the market right now.???

The past month has seen a new tranche of 4G services launched by o2 and Vodafone, with Three announcing their plans for launch in 47 cities. Ofcom published their research highlighting consumer understanding of traffic management, an area where the BSG has played a key role in facilitating the voluntary code of practice on traffic management transparency. We were also pleased to welcome Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards to a dinner with the BSG’s Advisory Council, and got an update from the team at the Government Digital Service on all things Gov.uk and the lowdown on their newly established Digital Inclusion team. (more…)

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