Ofcom kicks broadband into 21st Century
UK Internet, the next generation
THE OFCOM CONSUMER PANEL has been busy putting its collective regulatory heads together – today announcing a change for broadband services in the UK.
Ofcom has called on policy-makers to break down the digital divide and push those excluded from first-generation broadband jump straight into the 21st century with Next Generation Access (NGA).
Consumer Panel Chair, Anna Bradley said, “We already know that the economic case for next generation access will not stack up in some areas and we can predict which areas that will be. So let’s address these issues alongside commercial roll-out, not after it.”
Next Generation Broadband (NGB) will deliver new services and products across the UK that will bring huge benefits to consumers and citizens and will give speeds of up to 100m/bits.
Bradley continues by saying, “If we are imaginative and use a mix of private and public business models, we could provide a way for consumers who are excluded from first generation broadband to leapfrog straight to the next generation.” – how kind.
The almighty panel wants policy makers to look for the potential for savings by using faster broadband to reach the unreachable.
Bradley finishes by stating that the UK is making some important decisions about the delivery of NGB, meaning that the consumers and citizens could reap huge benefits.
She does point out, however, that these decisions need to be properly informed with a sense of the value next generation networks can deliver, not just to companies and consumers, but to the economy and society as a whole. µ
Comments
Finally!
Yay, maybe we will finally catch up with America!When? where?
A lot of big talk. Talk is cheap. When & where will we see 100mbit connections?Catch up?
If this comes about for you lucky folks in the UK, you wont "catch up' to the speed seen in the US but instead far surpass it.The rate at which the US telecoms and cable providers are rolling out "new" technology is a joke.
For being the country were the 'net as it were originate we are woefully beheind the curve as compaired to most of the EU not to mention South Korea and Japan.
It is riduclous how little companys here in the US are willing to invest in infrastrusture or means to use "dark" or unused "fiber" that is sitting totally unused in most large citys.
When you hear of Verizon offering 20mbps connections don't beleave for 1 second that it is a common option for most of the US beyond a few select citys or established markets.
The majority of people in the US only have access to rather poor adsl service that requires a landline to be paid for, even if you only use it for said dsl connection, or cable internet at 8mbps.
The only spots likely to get anywhere near 100mbps are university campuses and dorm rooms.
The internet providers here will take maybe 5 more years until we start to see 100mbps as a common option.
Hell we are barely seing 3G phone networks expand past just a few main citys and it has taken years to get that far.
falls of chair laughing
Four years ago my isp paid me to upgrade my adsl because the old service was no longer being offered as it was outdated. The outdated speed was 12mb.I'm in a country that launched broadband 2 years after tony blair announced broadband britain.
piss up in a brewery anyone?