The UK post election: broadband Britain?
Britain's three main parties support the recommendation that 'virtually everyone' should receive 2Mbps broadband by 2012, but disagree on the rollout of 'next generation broadband' and other critical questions for egaming businesses, says Sebastien Lahtinen, chief executive of independent broadband news and information site ThinkBroadband.com...
WE all hear about the ‘digital divide’ and how some communities are excluded from broadband.
The British government is in the process of moving services online from getting your car tax disc to reporting and paying VAT, so it is essential the businesses and homes alike have access to reliable broadband.
And as new services are developed, high speed broadband will become more important.
Every industry providing services online to consumers benefits from fast, reliable, universal access as it enables delivery of better entertainment services. The egaming industry is no different, as over time the expectations of users will rise.
With the upcoming election, the three main political parties are campaigning for votes with quite similar policies when it comes to broadband delivery over the next two years.
All parties support the recommendation that ‘virtually everyone’ should receive a 2Mbps service(downstream) by 2012, the so called Universal Service Commitment, which will be funded from the surplus left in the Digital Switchover fund.
Where the three parties digress is the rollout of ‘next generation broadband’.
The Conservatives, the traditionally centre right party likely to take over from the incumbent Labour party, is keen to let market forces take the primary role, although they have acknowledged that some government intervention may be necessary, and they would fund this by possibly top-splicing the BBC license fee.
They promise that ‘most’ of the UK will get 100Mbps by 2017.
The Labour Government has promised 90% coverage of ‘next generation’ broadband services by 2017, funded by a 50 pence a month levy on telephone lines to make sure the ‘final third’ which would otherwise be unlikely to receive next generation services, is also included.
The Prime Minister has since also talked about universal coverage by the end of the decade, although we are yet to see details of how this will be achieved.
The Liberal Democrats, the UK’s third party, believe that intervention is necessary, arguing not only that the 2Mbps target for 2012 is quite unambitious, but also that this investment should be combined with next generation access in the most rural of areas, the so called ‘outside in’ approach.
None of the parties, however, have made clear what their expectations are in terms of upload speeds or quality of service – tow critical factors in the delivery of digital entertainment.