UK Broadband for all subject to further delays

It has been suggested that the high-speed fibre optic broadband rollout proposed by the Communications Minister, Lord Carter has had to be revised, which has led to the release of his highly anticipated Digital Britain report that was scheduled for last week being delayed until sometime this week.

In order to fund his universal broadband access vision Lord Carter will be expected to urge the telecom companies to provide a much larger investment.

The have been a number of leaks with regards to the contents of the interim report and the suggestions it will make even though it has yet to be published, which includes the UK’s mobile companies like O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile, 3UK and Orange being given a sweetener if they promise to commit to creating new plans to spend on rolling out mobile broadband like being allowed to indefinitely hold on to their third-generation (3G) phone licenses.

It is hoped by Carter that opposition to a plan to redistribute part of their spectrum by regulator Ofcom will be dropped by O2 and Vodafone as part of a new deal.

The key element of the report from Carter is expected to be the introduction of the obligation for a universal provision of a 2Mbps broadband connection to every home and this offer has been created to disperse concerns within the industry over the cost of doing this.

There is a considerable sensitivity to spending from both mobile and fixed provider in the current economic climate, especially with an investment into the carrying of super-fast broadband over fibre optic networks that will cost around £5 billion being encouraged by the government.

Calls will still be made for universal broadband access by 2012 in the report, although instead of the super-fast fibre optic based networks that were originally proposed it may be delivered using the standard copper wire lines, say analysts. Issues that affect users of the internet like security are likely to be covered in the interim report along with the examining of illegal TV, movies and music file-sharing and the considering of ways to fight it. It may also cover areas like public service and digital radio broadcasts.