Broadband progress and challenges ahead highlighted by the Digital Britain Summit

How to equip Britain and prepare for a digital future was debated recently by individuals, politicians and key organisations at the Digital Britain Summit at the British Library on Friday 17th April 2009.

The recent debate highlighted the current progress that is being made into the preparation of the UK infrastructure and was believed to be very encouraging by industry experts, although the challenges in the future for getting Britain truly ‘connected’ were also brought to light.

In the UK more than 50 percent of the population are already using Broadband services, although for a number of reasons there are those that are not yet online. It was found that a combination of a fear of technology that is still prevalent and the fact that many people don’t realise how their lives could benefit from broadband were a few of the key factors in people not taking up broadband.

Manoj Solanki from a popular broadband resource site said “Promoting the benefits of a Digital Britain and persuading these users to actually get online will be a big challenge for the Government. Gordon Brown explained that there will be a need to provide and promote digital skills. This will play a key role in getting these users online. One way to do this is to provide free and open classes to educate them on the benefits, such as online banking, shopping, watching TV content, listening to music and online gaming to name a few. Many would also welcome the opportunity to learn any PC skills they need in an open and non-intimidating environment. Small businesses owners can also benefit from broadband in their line of business. There is potential for better communication with employees and customers, cost savings, increased efficiency and home or mobile working. Yet there are still many small businesses that hardly use the Internet, and barely use email.”

He went on to add “From some of the feedback I’ve seen and heard so far in response to the Digital Britain summit, many rural users are concerned that their areas will not receive enough attention, and that plans seem to concentrate on cities and towns. Users in rural areas offer suffer from a lack of broadband availability, or performance that simply isn’t good enough to be useful. Despite the prospect of a Universal Service Obligation to provide broadband to every household in the UK with a minimum speed of 2Mbps (Megabits per second), I think rural users would like further re-assurance that they are not going to be left behind.”

Solanki also said “BT is currently working on installing fibre-optic based broadband services that will serve around 10 million users in the UK. This was a crucial development and a step in the right direction. However, BT had some form of re-assurance from Ofcom that would ensure a return on investment. To continue on the road to super-fast broadband, further incentives and rewards like this will be critical to ensure that adequate investment continues into something that is likely to become vital to the UK economy.”