Scotland could get a £75m digital network
It has been claimed that Scotland could be in line to get a seventy five million pound digital network to help encourage the take up of high speed broadband.
It has been reported that Scotland could soon be in line for a seventy five million pound digital network designed to increase the distribution of video on demand from Scottish television as well as to increase the take up of high speed broadband services.
A formal expression of interest was made recently by the Scottish government to the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport to establish the Scottish Digital Network. According to Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish culture minister, funding for the network in Scotland would come from the television licence fee.
A viability report was released which said that the funding for the network would also help to encourage the take up high speed broadband services in Scotland. It said: “New and attractive forms of Scottish content could drive take-up, just as the Scottish government is seeking to lead the UK in connectivity.”
The report also showed that there were problems with exclusion across Scotland based on factors such as social and geographic. It said: “A range of attractive content and services linked to the SDN will help to get all of Scotland connected and participating in the benefits of the digital age.”
Scotland currently has the lowest penetration level in the UK with sixty one percent. In some parts of Scotland such as Glasgow and its surroundings the figure is very low with just a fifty three percent take up.
Source – Electronics Weekly
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Speaking from Scotlands rural hinterlands, though technically I’m not sure any of Shetland could be termed hinterland, I’m not sure I agree with Mr Trower. Among the problems faced in rural communities are, as he says, the last mile connection. We also suffer from poor last 10 mile and sometimes last 30 or 40 mile connections. Despite nearly a decade trying to interest Telco’s, usually with promises of pots of gold, we are no nearer a solution. In simple terms there just isn’t enough income to justify the investment, even with loads of aid.
The second problem is expalining and justifying why improved broadband is necessary when the majority do a bit of home shopping, keep up with family on facebook and send some email. Maybe an SDN will increase demand thereby making Telco investment more worthwhile.
I don’t know the answer, I just know that we haven’t yet found it and waiting on Telco’s to come forward with the solution will condemn Shetland and other rural areas to a long, cold, wait.
What Scotland doesn’t need is another Public sector intervention to create yet another high capacity digital network! Scottish Enterprize tried this a few years ago with ‘Project Access’ which was a complete waste of public funds. Instead what Government should be doing is helping the private sector to overcome the economic hurdles which prevents investment in last mile infrastructure to replace dsl technology. This combined with an end user stimulation, subsidy or education and marketing campaign to help those who are not yet connected to broadband services would be of more help. I am not suggesting for a minute that there isn’t a problem in Scotlands rural hinterlands where state aid and intervention carefully targeted importantly in combination with the industry would go a long way. However the fact remains that 90% of Scotland population has access to commercially available broadband services and many simply don’t use it. Politicians need to focus scarce public funds on what is actually needed (stimulus in the core and targeted state aid in the rural margins)and not the creation of yet another high capacity digital network – which does nothing other than grab headlines.