So, more exciting news from BT - http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/23/bt-doubles-fast-broadband-network Yes, that's right within 2 years 75% of the country will have a whopping 25Meg available to it!
No, no... put the cork back in... it's not something to celebrate. Why? Well, take all of that vitriol you have thrown at the recent BET announcement and apply it again to this. ADSL2+ is a similar investment in that old, Victorian copper plant. It's not new, it's not exciting. It's faster, sure, but in much the same way that a Skoda is faster than a horse - you still wouldn't want anyone to see you arriving at work in either, would you?
Let's be honest, BT cannot do the country. Ignore that 75% number: they will fail to deliver a genuine broadband service (by which I mean 100Meg symmetrical) to 99% of us. They will fail to deliver an adequate broadband service (40Meg up, 10Meg down such as their FTTC offerings) to 60% of us. If you are part of that 60% and would like to know how to get your community involved in building a true broadband future then let me know. Help is available!
Wednesday 23 September 2009
£6 Tax To Go Ahead?
http://spedr.com/2a742
So, the news reaches us this morning that Mr. Timms is planning to present the £6 phone levy the the House of Commons in a finance bill following the end of Party Conference silly season. If it is ratified then we should be able to access it in 2010.
Great! Really... great!
Why? Well, because I want to take advantage of it. I want to apply for funding for my community broadband project and hope that I will be eligible for access to this fund (assuming BT don't get it all for the PR disaster that is BET!).
Perhaps this is the reason so many are against the 'tax'. When we pay a tax we want to see a return from it - that's why we are generally OK with our income tax and council tax and even VAT and why there is opposition to things like the stamp duty (what is that for anyway???). There will be a great many who will pay this levy but will not see a direct return on it - for example those who live in rural areas that will not benefit from the network upgrades from BT, Virgin or others.
So, if you are in that position should you oppose the bill? Should you lobby your MP and demand that it is not passed? Of course - if that is what you feel motivated to do but before you put furious pen to paper ask yourself one question - "Is there any way I could benefit from this tax?"
I would argue that the answer to that question is invariably "yes" but that also demands you take action - this time with far more positive results.
So, the news reaches us this morning that Mr. Timms is planning to present the £6 phone levy the the House of Commons in a finance bill following the end of Party Conference silly season. If it is ratified then we should be able to access it in 2010.
Great! Really... great!
Why? Well, because I want to take advantage of it. I want to apply for funding for my community broadband project and hope that I will be eligible for access to this fund (assuming BT don't get it all for the PR disaster that is BET!).
Perhaps this is the reason so many are against the 'tax'. When we pay a tax we want to see a return from it - that's why we are generally OK with our income tax and council tax and even VAT and why there is opposition to things like the stamp duty (what is that for anyway???). There will be a great many who will pay this levy but will not see a direct return on it - for example those who live in rural areas that will not benefit from the network upgrades from BT, Virgin or others.
So, if you are in that position should you oppose the bill? Should you lobby your MP and demand that it is not passed? Of course - if that is what you feel motivated to do but before you put furious pen to paper ask yourself one question - "Is there any way I could benefit from this tax?"
I would argue that the answer to that question is invariably "yes" but that also demands you take action - this time with far more positive results.
Wednesday 16 September 2009
How the Mighty Have Fallen
Is that the bell tolling for BT? Have we reached a point from which they can no longer recover?
Here is some background reading for you (you may well already have come across this in the past couple of days):
1. Ofcom deregulate's UK's retail telecom market (thereby allowing BT to provide bundled services): http://telecomengine.com/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_5653
2. BT Announces BET (extending the reach of DSL to about 12km): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8256678.stm
3. Benoit Felten's (Yankee Group Analyst) Blog on the changing role of the 'telco': http://www.fiberevolution.com/2009/09/the-role-of-telcos.html
The quote I will pick out from the first article is that "BT was judged [by Ofcom] to no longer have 'significant market power' in the majority of retail landline markets in the UK". So here we have a former monopoly who has large liabilities on its balance sheet (e.g. pension deficit) and is having to use advances on dated technology (BET) to squeeze even more cash out of its copper plant in a desperate move to win back some of the market power.
So, what of BET? On the one hand you have to say "Oh come on! Another update to the copper plant when all we want is fibre!" but to be honest if you put yourselves in the position of those in the broadband notspots perhaps something is better than nothing and given this technology is readily deployable (following the trials) it is at least progress. Sadly I fear it will mean BT will consider that box ticked and will once again forget about the former notspots who will then be stuck with a sub-standard 1MB connection.
But what now for BT? Well I have to say I am in total agreement with Benoit. Telcos must reinvent themselves and quickly. Both residential and business services are moving into the cloud (by which I mean they will be delivered from beyond your immediate vicinity) and the key requirement to use those services is a high speed pipe.
BT, you still have a role to play in building Digital Britain, just not the role you play today. Move fast or move over.
Here is some background reading for you (you may well already have come across this in the past couple of days):
1. Ofcom deregulate's UK's retail telecom market (thereby allowing BT to provide bundled services): http://telecomengine.com/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_5653
2. BT Announces BET (extending the reach of DSL to about 12km): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8256678.stm
3. Benoit Felten's (Yankee Group Analyst) Blog on the changing role of the 'telco': http://www.fiberevolution.com/2009/09/the-role-of-telcos.html
The quote I will pick out from the first article is that "BT was judged [by Ofcom] to no longer have 'significant market power' in the majority of retail landline markets in the UK". So here we have a former monopoly who has large liabilities on its balance sheet (e.g. pension deficit) and is having to use advances on dated technology (BET) to squeeze even more cash out of its copper plant in a desperate move to win back some of the market power.
So, what of BET? On the one hand you have to say "Oh come on! Another update to the copper plant when all we want is fibre!" but to be honest if you put yourselves in the position of those in the broadband notspots perhaps something is better than nothing and given this technology is readily deployable (following the trials) it is at least progress. Sadly I fear it will mean BT will consider that box ticked and will once again forget about the former notspots who will then be stuck with a sub-standard 1MB connection.
But what now for BT? Well I have to say I am in total agreement with Benoit. Telcos must reinvent themselves and quickly. Both residential and business services are moving into the cloud (by which I mean they will be delivered from beyond your immediate vicinity) and the key requirement to use those services is a high speed pipe.
BT, you still have a role to play in building Digital Britain, just not the role you play today. Move fast or move over.
Thursday 10 September 2009
Musicians hit out at Gov plans for file sharers #digitalbritain
One of the more significant factors driving traffic growth on the Internet today is file sharing. I've done it myself, although not to a great extent and I know of many others who also use it. That said I could not quite make up my mind about this whole file sharing debate until I read this article. Yes I thought the measures proposed were utterly draconian but I could not make up my mind whether something should be done.
You see I felt that through file sharing the musicians were losing out. I didn't care so much about the record companies but did not want those who are actually making the music to suffer as a result of our actions. Turns out I was wrong! Naturally I had never actually spoken to a musician to get their feedback so I am grateful to The Times for bridging that gap of ignorance for me!
If the artists themselves support file sharing, indeed encourage it (see the quote from Ed O'Brien) then the Government has no right to stop it.
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Ignore the League Tables
Over the last two days I have seen a number of articles & blogs about the new league table for FTTH published by the FTTH Council Europe. The articles from the FTTH Council is here: http://www.ftthcouncil.eu/documents/press_release/PR_EU_rankings_Final.pdf
Here are some examples of the reactions:
http://spedr.com/3b02g
http://spedr.com/2chsa
http://spedr.com/15euv
Now... some perspective please folks. Firstly these rankings are presented in terms of penetration - in other words the number of houses who have FTTH as a proportion of the total households in the country. A league table on this basis is very misleading - no disrespect to Andorra or Iceland but in real terms they have connected less households than in France, just more in percentage terms.
Next to the view that FTTH has somehow survived the economic downturn. Really? So why were so many projects put on hold in 2009? Why have none of the major European economies entered this league table? Where are the major FTTH projects - I mean the ones that will move us from <10% penetration to >25% penetration?
For the purposes of balance let's compare the 2008 results with 2009, taken from the FTTH Council's announcement:
Really all this shows is a couple of new projects in Andorra, Lithuania and Latvia and the others connecting a few more households to their existing networks. For me it highlights the problem throughout Europe that we are just not thinking progressively enough in our efforts to deliver Next Generation Access.
But now to my favorite post: http://spedr.com/4bnim from the Digital Britain team.
I'm not sure what the thought process was behind this post. "Show them we still care"? "We're bad but not as bad as they all think"? "Get your excuses in early before it gets worse"? Possibly all of the above!
I will agree on one point, however - I also dislike the 'Korea syndrome'. It is totally irrelevant to compare any European country to either South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong or Singapore. Both Japan and Korea have built FTTB networks (to the Building) as most people live in cities in high-rise tower blocks and that was the easiest way to deliver any broadband service to them, regardless of speed. As a point of comparison read this annecdote from Benoit Felten (@fiberguy) on this subject: http://spedr.com/2mkg1 Their competitive landscape was built on providers trying to outdo each other on the headline speed which just resulted in a commoditisation of the network way earlier than it should have done. They are not in such a comfortable position either as they desperately try to recoup their investments.
But, it really is time to stop the excuses and start to put the momentum behind Digital Britain. I want to read about how & where projects are starting; how the DB team is enabling them; how we can apply for grants to support our efforts. Lame excuses are a waste of time for all concerned.
Here are some examples of the reactions:
http://spedr.com/3b02g
http://spedr.com/2chsa
http://spedr.com/15euv
Now... some perspective please folks. Firstly these rankings are presented in terms of penetration - in other words the number of houses who have FTTH as a proportion of the total households in the country. A league table on this basis is very misleading - no disrespect to Andorra or Iceland but in real terms they have connected less households than in France, just more in percentage terms.
Next to the view that FTTH has somehow survived the economic downturn. Really? So why were so many projects put on hold in 2009? Why have none of the major European economies entered this league table? Where are the major FTTH projects - I mean the ones that will move us from <10% penetration to >25% penetration?
For the purposes of balance let's compare the 2008 results with 2009, taken from the FTTH Council's announcement:
Really all this shows is a couple of new projects in Andorra, Lithuania and Latvia and the others connecting a few more households to their existing networks. For me it highlights the problem throughout Europe that we are just not thinking progressively enough in our efforts to deliver Next Generation Access.
But now to my favorite post: http://spedr.com/4bnim from the Digital Britain team.
I'm not sure what the thought process was behind this post. "Show them we still care"? "We're bad but not as bad as they all think"? "Get your excuses in early before it gets worse"? Possibly all of the above!
I will agree on one point, however - I also dislike the 'Korea syndrome'. It is totally irrelevant to compare any European country to either South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong or Singapore. Both Japan and Korea have built FTTB networks (to the Building) as most people live in cities in high-rise tower blocks and that was the easiest way to deliver any broadband service to them, regardless of speed. As a point of comparison read this annecdote from Benoit Felten (@fiberguy) on this subject: http://spedr.com/2mkg1 Their competitive landscape was built on providers trying to outdo each other on the headline speed which just resulted in a commoditisation of the network way earlier than it should have done. They are not in such a comfortable position either as they desperately try to recoup their investments.
But, it really is time to stop the excuses and start to put the momentum behind Digital Britain. I want to read about how & where projects are starting; how the DB team is enabling them; how we can apply for grants to support our efforts. Lame excuses are a waste of time for all concerned.
Tuesday 8 September 2009
JFDI - Engaging the Community
Since my return from Hull I have thrown a little more time & effort into my own JFDI project here in rural Buckinghamshire. I have started to do what I had always believed would be the most tricky part of the initial work - engaging the community. You see while I say rural, I actually live in a community that represents 5 separate villages with some 3,800 residents. Now I know my neighbours well enough but I was very uncertain as to how to actually get the word out to the broad community.
So, I started by putting together a web site - www.nga-uk.com if you are interested. This site tries to 'dumb-down' the technology and increase people's awareness of the benefits leading them to register their interest.
OK, but how to pull people in to the site? SEO will do the trick for those actually searching for a broadband solution in my area but I cannot really rely on that! So, I have put up notices in pubs (which we do seem to have more than enough of!), the post office even the local butcher asking people to visit the site. That has had some success and will, hopefully, start the word of mouth process.
But I needed to do more than that... I need to get across my own enthusiasm (which I know you will share with me) for this and to do that I need to actually speak to people. So last night I went to the Parish Council meeting. There were only a small number of people there (perhaps 40) but in the 10 minutes I spoke there were many questions and a great deal of interest expressed. The Parish Council have also committed to get involved which should drive the news even further afield. Indeed this morning I received a call from the leader of the local business association asking me to come and speak at their next meeting.
Next Monday I have a meeting with our County Council who have a concern that Bucks is not included in any of BT's expansion plans and I hope to be able to discuss a real alternative for them if we can get more communities engaged.
So, why have I posted this? Because I hope it may provide some impetus if you were thinking of a similar JFDI project in your area. It is amazing the momentum that can be gained very quickly from a few simple actions and I would encourage any reader to do the same.
If you are concerned that you just don't know enough about this area to make a difference don't let that stop you. There are many of us who can help - I met a number of people in Hull last week who would love to see these projects getting off the ground and will offer their help and support.
Of course you could always use my other website Next Generation Access if you want to learn more ;-)
Spread the word - JFDI will really make a difference!
So, I started by putting together a web site - www.nga-uk.com if you are interested. This site tries to 'dumb-down' the technology and increase people's awareness of the benefits leading them to register their interest.
OK, but how to pull people in to the site? SEO will do the trick for those actually searching for a broadband solution in my area but I cannot really rely on that! So, I have put up notices in pubs (which we do seem to have more than enough of!), the post office even the local butcher asking people to visit the site. That has had some success and will, hopefully, start the word of mouth process.
But I needed to do more than that... I need to get across my own enthusiasm (which I know you will share with me) for this and to do that I need to actually speak to people. So last night I went to the Parish Council meeting. There were only a small number of people there (perhaps 40) but in the 10 minutes I spoke there were many questions and a great deal of interest expressed. The Parish Council have also committed to get involved which should drive the news even further afield. Indeed this morning I received a call from the leader of the local business association asking me to come and speak at their next meeting.
Next Monday I have a meeting with our County Council who have a concern that Bucks is not included in any of BT's expansion plans and I hope to be able to discuss a real alternative for them if we can get more communities engaged.
So, why have I posted this? Because I hope it may provide some impetus if you were thinking of a similar JFDI project in your area. It is amazing the momentum that can be gained very quickly from a few simple actions and I would encourage any reader to do the same.
If you are concerned that you just don't know enough about this area to make a difference don't let that stop you. There are many of us who can help - I met a number of people in Hull last week who would love to see these projects getting off the ground and will offer their help and support.
Of course you could always use my other website Next Generation Access if you want to learn more ;-)
Spread the word - JFDI will really make a difference!
Thursday 3 September 2009
INCA & JON
On a more positive note from the afternoon meeting we did hear from Steve at CBN about the INCA project and the potential for JON (Joint Operating Network). INCA is taking more shape and could well be a good voice for the community networks into broader groups such as BSG & COTS. CBN are continuing their funding discussions for INCA and good luck to them on that front.
JON could be very valuable to us. National hubs that will aggregate community networks, potentially offering the backhaul service to the hub and the onward connection to the Internet and other CPs or SPs. There is a lot of benefit to be found in this model and while there is the argument that there are commercial groups out there who can already do this I would counter that JON should utilise their infrastructure while operating under its own model.
JON could be very valuable to us. National hubs that will aggregate community networks, potentially offering the backhaul service to the hub and the onward connection to the Internet and other CPs or SPs. There is a lot of benefit to be found in this model and while there is the argument that there are commercial groups out there who can already do this I would counter that JON should utilise their infrastructure while operating under its own model.
COTS 2 - The Journey North
After the pleasure of my trip to Hull today I thought it would be useful to get my thoughts down straight away.
Firstly a thank-you to Guy Jarvis and the Fibrestream team and to Lindsey Annison for pulling the day's events together and for getting us southern softies to venture above the Watford Gap!
The FTTH Colloquium was great - we had a huge diversity of people in the room from vendors to consumers to council members. In fact as was pointed out to me we had every single step of the fibre journey represented from the diamond saw to precision cut the roads through the physical ducts and fibre through the network equipment through the cloud-based services through the providers (both existing and new) through the backhaul to the consumer. Fantastic!
Unfortunately in such a short space of time and with such a wide audience we could only scratch the surface of the subject at hand but I felt, and all those I spoke to shared my opinion, that it was great to be able to speak with like minded people who share our common frustrations.
It was also suggested that I look to put together something to follow up on it in a more southerly location. I'd be more than willing to do that if there is the interest. Drop me a line and let me know. (BTW, it would not be London-based but probably Bucks or Berks somewhere and will almost certainly not happen until early 2010)
So to COTS... and let's be honest it was a downbeat meeting with little meaningful outcome for the majority of us there. My frank assertion is that for me, in my attempts to put together a community broadband network for my area, COTS holds no relevance. For two reasons: it assumes that I will want to interface to the major providers and leverage their services and it will (at least initially) not be enforced.
To the first point I am growing in the conviction that (for consumer services) there is no need to involve the existing communications providers (note I do not refer to them as service providers). Everything I want is online - whether it's gmail, iPlayer, iTunes, Twitter, Skype or just browsing I actually don't use my broadband line for anything else. So what I really want is a big fat pipe to the Internet. I'll pay for the content I want to the individual content providers.
This may change in the near future as premium content is delivered (for example HD TV) and the delivery mechanism may evolve in which case COTS will once again become relevant but here and now for us small community groups desperately trying not to get digitally excluded don't worry about it... JFDI!
Firstly a thank-you to Guy Jarvis and the Fibrestream team and to Lindsey Annison for pulling the day's events together and for getting us southern softies to venture above the Watford Gap!
The FTTH Colloquium was great - we had a huge diversity of people in the room from vendors to consumers to council members. In fact as was pointed out to me we had every single step of the fibre journey represented from the diamond saw to precision cut the roads through the physical ducts and fibre through the network equipment through the cloud-based services through the providers (both existing and new) through the backhaul to the consumer. Fantastic!
Unfortunately in such a short space of time and with such a wide audience we could only scratch the surface of the subject at hand but I felt, and all those I spoke to shared my opinion, that it was great to be able to speak with like minded people who share our common frustrations.
It was also suggested that I look to put together something to follow up on it in a more southerly location. I'd be more than willing to do that if there is the interest. Drop me a line and let me know. (BTW, it would not be London-based but probably Bucks or Berks somewhere and will almost certainly not happen until early 2010)
So to COTS... and let's be honest it was a downbeat meeting with little meaningful outcome for the majority of us there. My frank assertion is that for me, in my attempts to put together a community broadband network for my area, COTS holds no relevance. For two reasons: it assumes that I will want to interface to the major providers and leverage their services and it will (at least initially) not be enforced.
To the first point I am growing in the conviction that (for consumer services) there is no need to involve the existing communications providers (note I do not refer to them as service providers). Everything I want is online - whether it's gmail, iPlayer, iTunes, Twitter, Skype or just browsing I actually don't use my broadband line for anything else. So what I really want is a big fat pipe to the Internet. I'll pay for the content I want to the individual content providers.
This may change in the near future as premium content is delivered (for example HD TV) and the delivery mechanism may evolve in which case COTS will once again become relevant but here and now for us small community groups desperately trying not to get digitally excluded don't worry about it... JFDI!
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Feasibility Studies for #digitalbritain - or just a beauty contest?
http://spedr.com/2b2i
Do you have an idea for a service or application that could revolutionise Digital Britain? Do you need some seed capital to help investigate the potential for your idea? If so get your fingers poised and ready to write the application letter by Oct 1 for entry into the Digital Britain competition. The total 'prize fund' for the competition is £2M with up to £25k being awarded per project which must be no more than 75% of the project cost.
According to the guidance the competition winners will be well placed to "seek investment to develop their ideas" and to enter in further competitions from the Technology Strategy Board.
So, do we applaud the impetus that this may provide or decry the fact that Digital Britain has been turned into a lottery? I think both... on the one hand it is good to see that some startup money is being made available on the other perhaps it is not such a good idea to make it sound like a beauty contest. Ideas for DB should not have to compete against each other in this way but should be assessed up front on their own merits.
Do you have an idea for a service or application that could revolutionise Digital Britain? Do you need some seed capital to help investigate the potential for your idea? If so get your fingers poised and ready to write the application letter by Oct 1 for entry into the Digital Britain competition. The total 'prize fund' for the competition is £2M with up to £25k being awarded per project which must be no more than 75% of the project cost.
According to the guidance the competition winners will be well placed to "seek investment to develop their ideas" and to enter in further competitions from the Technology Strategy Board.
So, do we applaud the impetus that this may provide or decry the fact that Digital Britain has been turned into a lottery? I think both... on the one hand it is good to see that some startup money is being made available on the other perhaps it is not such a good idea to make it sound like a beauty contest. Ideas for DB should not have to compete against each other in this way but should be assessed up front on their own merits.
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