Delivering Digital Britain
Published - Wednesday, 21 January, 2009
Next Monday will see the publication of Lord Carter’s initial Digital Britain report on the state of the UK’s digital economy, and already there has been much speculation about what it will contain, not to mention a few rather obvious hints. Some of this is down to genuine leaks, but the way that information has seeped out suggests a well planned campaign to build anticipation prior to its launch.
In a recent speech to the Westminster eForum, Carter hinted that his vision will include a promise to get broadband to everyone in the UK and that the Government may need to allocate funds to support the rollout of the next generation of superfast internet. This second point is an interesting one, and poses the question – what price digital leadership? And how fast is superfast?
The Broadband Stakeholder Group recently said that 50MB broadband for all is achievable by 2012, and all it’s going to cost is circa £16bn. But surely this is too much for Carter to pledge, both in size (what do we need 50MB for?) and cost (£16bn is a lot to spend when credit crunch has become probably the most published phrase in the UK press). So what will the Digital Britain report pledge?
In my opinion we’re currently enjoying something of a digital purple patch in the UK. The issue is no longer one of haves and have nots, and more a question of how much can we have? The explosion of social media and the rise in rich Internet experiences have meant that Carter’s job is becoming ever more difficult. It seems that new web based innovations are changing our usage and requirements on an almost weekly basis, so how do you gauge the best way to serve such a diverse range of requirements?
Thankfully, that’s one for Lord Carter to worry about, whilst the rest of us sit back and wait for his report next Monday. Whatever it might contain, it is encouraging to see the Government pledge its support for the burgeoning digital economy, and genuinely exciting to see how the UK intends to make strides into the connected future.
Tags: broadband, internet, social media, web
January 21st, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I think the prospect of high speed broadband for EVERYONE is rubbish, at the moment I have minimal connection at home and that apparently is very common in many villages in my area, bearing in mind its only 40 minutes outside of W1…!!!
January 21st, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Could be interesting – what if my taxes are going to be spent on getting you better broadband. How’s that fair on me?