So news over the last few days that the so called Broadband Tax will be scrapped before it has even been implemented. This is the 50p per month on phones lines that would be charged as a levy to provide a stimulus to those areas who will not get adequate coverage from the new broadband offerings from the likes of BT & Virgin. More details are available here: http://bit.ly/Flvqh
Views on the tax have been divided from those utterly against paying any more tax to those wishing it could be levied on mobile phones as well to raise further funding for what is a highly costly issue. Personally I was OK with paying the tax as long as I would benefit from it. Of course, therein lies the problem. Unless I get off my ass and do something then there is litle chance for me to improve my own broadband connection or those in the community around me. There is no chance whatsoever of me seeing FTTC, let alone FTTH from either BT or Virgin, so JFDI is really my only option.
I have been exploring this for some time now and was good to go with an autumn push on the community, the councillors & the various other pieces of the machine however all of this was done on the assumption that while we would be able to raise some funding within the community as a co-operative group we would be able to tap into this broadband fund to deliver a large part of the investment needed.
But now, as the politicians worry about whether or not they will be elected in 9 months time, that option appears to have been removed. Which leaves a rather large void... OK, it may be possible to fill it within the community, it may be possible to get investment from other sources and I will certainly try these routes but the net result of this will be a further widening of the digital divide.
BT and Virgin will continue to serve the inner city areas where population densities are high enough to guarantee their return and the rural and semi-urban areas will continue to have to make do with whatever poor excuse for broadband is offered in their area.
Like the tax or not without it, or another means of capital injection, Digital Britain will fail.
Tuesday 18 August 2009
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The broadband levy was only a smokescreen to cover up the fact that nothing much was gonna happen anyway. The press fell for it, so the bigger picture was never looked at. Pirates, the media, the levy. All of no consequence. The real issue for digitalbritain is getting the tax off the fibre and stimulating roll out. The main point everyone has missed in government and the media is the fact that the law of physics says you can't deliver high speed access through copper. End of story. You know this, I know this, so how do we explain it in simple words to government officials who can't see further than their noses? If we could make it really simple they might grasp it? Korea can deliver 1000megs through fibre to the home for a tenner. Why can't we?
ReplyDelete"BT and Virgin will continue to serve the inner city areas" — I live in inner London, and I still can't get a decent service. The unbundled providers have run out of space in the exchanges, and BT (and resold BT) is massively over-contended. And there's no cable in my area.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just the countryside that's poorly served: it's nearly everywhere. There may be pockets of decent internet in this country, but I don't know where they are.