On the day the iPad is launched in the UK, a guest blog from Brian Williamson of Plum Consulting considers what impact a shift to this type of device, with simpler, more intuitive interfaces and utilising mobile connectivity, could have on internet adoption.

“A report by Plum Consulting for Vodafone examines internet use and barriers to use, market changes and policy possible approach to get more people online. In terms of use the report finds that education, workforce participation and age are key considerations in explaining internet use.

Older US citizens are significantly more likely to use the internet than those in Korea or Europe, whilst those in Northern European Countries are significantly more likely to use the internet than their Southern European counterparts (consistent with the level of economic development and education at the time they were at school).

The following shows that internet adoption in the UK is not too far behind that in Sweden - which has the highest adoption in Europe alongside Denmark.

Evidence of success in relation to existing interventions by government is limited – though the million housewives programme in Korea and efforts to increase internet adoption by young people in Portugal do appear to have had an impact.

On the face of it this evidence, combined with the fact that the rate of adoption growth amongst less educated older people is lower and accounted for to a significant extent by the ageing of younger existing internet users, suggest that getting the final third online may be slow and difficult.

Plum’s research also point to skills, affordability, perceived relevance and fear as factors inhibiting internet and broadband adoption. Whilst different considerations will matter more for different target groups, changes now underway may go a long way to reducing barriers. The emerging combination of touch and gesture based interfaces, ‘apps’ for specific services (complemented by cloud computing), simpler operating systems and more flexible and affordable wireless broadband access packages may help reduce exiting barriers including skill, relevance, fear and cost.

This shift is exemplified by, but will not be limited to, the Apple iPad (pictured below) and associated more flexible wireless tariff plans (which include per MB, daily, weekly and monthly packages without a contract) available in the UK from 28 May 2010. Available data plans will include a five pence per megabyte plan with no contractual commitment – potentially lowering ongoing costs significantly for some.

Over time, more spectrum and next generation mobile technology will lower the cost per megabyte - perhaps five-fold. Tablet devices can also be expected to fall in price (for example the One Laptop per Child initiative plans a $100 tablet by 2012). To be effective interventions designed to get people online should work with the grain of these changes, rather than continuing to focus on teaching the final-third to use PCs and on fixed broadband only initiatives.

Computer scientist Bran Ferren defined technology as ‘stuff that doesn’t work yet’. Perhaps, at last, we are getting beyond technology.”

Brian Williamson is a consultant with Plum Consulting and author of numerous reports, including the BSG’s ‘A Framework for Evaluating the Value of Next Generation Broadband‘.

The Government’s Digital Britain report rightly devotes a chapter to how you can “equip everyone to benefit” from the digital future.

Whilst much of the commentary around the report has focused on infrastructure, broadband speeds and protection of copyright online, the important issue of how to drive take-up has been somewhat overlooked.

Such an oversight would be dangerous.

Without widespread take-up of broadband and the services which run over it, growth scenarios for the sector and the economy more widely will suffer.

Without tackling the various and often complicated reasons for people choosing not to get “online”, there is also the risk that a significant section of the population miss out on the opportunities that the digital future offers them.

Not a outcome that anyone would seek.

The Digital Britain report recognises that one of the reasons that people choose not to engage with digital technology is a lack of confidence.

The BSG agrees with this and believes that it is vital to resolve any consumer concerns and misgivings about how digital services work and their implications.

It may seem a self-evident point to make, but the provision of clear information about the nature of services can certainly go a long way to achieve this outcome.

This is the approach taken by the Good Practice Principles on Audiovisual Content Information, which were facilitated by the BSG. The Principles commit leading content players to give clear and easy to use information about commercial content that may be unsuitable to children and young people or cause more general offence, so that individuals can make informed choices about the content they want to access - whether online, on a mobile phone or through an on-demand TV service.

This week, leading social network providers across Europe committed to a set of principles to enhance the safety of children and young people using their services. These are to:

• Raise awareness of safety education messages and acceptable use policies
• Work towards ensuring that services are age-appropriate for the intended audience
• Empower users through tools and technology
• Provide easy-to-use mechanisms to report conduct or content that violates Terms of Service
• Respond to notifications of illegal content or conduct
• Enable and encourage users to employ a safe approach to personal information and privacy
• Assess the means for reviewing illegal or prohibited content/conduct

These principles embody existing practice of social network providers and further demonstrate the role that industry can play in giving the consumers the tools and confidence they need to engage with digital services in a safe and confident way.

As the final findings of Stephen Carter’s Digital Britain report are crafted, we hope it will conclude that in order to empower the digital citizen of the future, knowledge and confidence is key.

Pamela Learmonth, Policy Manager, BSG

The government’s Digital Britain Interim Report has been launched. The press release is available here, and the report itself is available here. The BSG press release responding to the launch is available here.

We have produced an initial analysis of the report in a special edition of our newsletter. We are keen to hear the views and opinions of members of the BSG community, and anyone else with an interest in the broadband value chain, on the issues raised in the report.

If you have any views you wish to share please either comment on this blog or send us an email. We will pass on all views to the government’s Digital Britain team.

This week saw NESTA publish a policy paper advising that investment in fibre-optic broadband would be a vital part of the infrastructure of our digital economy as it emerges from the recession.

NESTA go on to suggest that ‘a spectrum for speed swap’ could be used to incentivise deployment of universal next generation broadband.

So can next generation broadband play a role in our economic recovery?

There has been a lot of lobbying for NGA in the US, with the incoming Obama administration promising investment in broadband as part of the stimulus. However, the latest statements from the Obama camp suggest that these investments will be restricted to expanding current broadband access to ‘unserved and underserved’ areas.

This may make more sense as an immediate stimulus. Having the government invest in NGA now, on either side of the atlantic, would be unlikely to help the economy in the short term. The lead in times for these sorts of projects, not to mention the time for deployment, would make it unlikely to have an immediate impact - in short, any project would not be ’shovel-ready’.

However, the government needs to keep a watch on NGA investment. We are yet to fully see the impact of the current economic conditions on investment decisions. If investment fails to materialise, the government may need to step in, in some form - a conclusion made by the Caio review.

It also may be true that the window of opportunity for government to make an impact on investment decisions is closing, given the fiscal austerity planned for the future.

Finally, there is a strong case for ensuring that, when the economy does begin to recover, we have spent wisely and invested in infrastructure that can support future growth - and most would consider NGA to be such an investment.

This is a challenging issue, and worthy of debate. We wait with interest to see what ideas will be discussed in the government’s Digital Britain Report this week.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

Building on Conservative Party Leader David Cameron’s commitment to broadband earlier in the week, last Friday Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt set out the Conservative Party’s views on next generation broadband.

The main commitment in Hunt’s speech was to re-iterate Cameron’s commitment to bring next-generation broadband to the majority of the population within five years, and to provide near-universal coverage as soon as possible after that.

Hunt went on to say that deployment should be market-led, and that the role of the public sector was as a facilitator of investment. In conjunction with their broadband policy, the Conservatives will conduct a review of the creative industries, details of which will be released soon.

The full speech is available here.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

It may have been the holiday season, but broadband was rarely off the news cycle in one form or another, so here’s a round-up of some of the most interesting stories from the Christmas period.

Most interestingly, David Cameron yesterday committed the Conservatives to fibre optic ‘high speed broadband’ for the majority of the population within five years, and, ‘to as near as possible, universal coverage within ten years’. A bold promise, although we are still waiting to see the detail of this policy. This followed Gordon Brown suggesting in an Observer interview that high-speed broadband could play a similar role to investment in infrastructure during previous recessions. Prior to this, also in the Observer, Professor Christopher Bishop, chief scientist at Microsoft Research Cambridge had suggested that the government could ‘do no better than rewire the nation with fibre optics’ if it was looking for an infrastructure project to stimulate the economy.

At the same time, we were given an indication of what could be included in Stephen Carter’s Digital Britain report. In an article in The Times, a universal broadband service of 2Mbps was suggested, alongside a comprehensive reform of the existing universal service obligations. Carter’s interim report is due to be published this month, with the full report later this year.

Gordon Brown wasn’t the only global leader to reference broadband over Christmas. President-elect Barack Obama spoke of his plan to provide a stimulus to the US digital economy, including improving broadband and increasing take-up. He described the US performance on broadband as ‘unacceptable’.

Staying in the States, the Recording Industry Association of America has decided to abandon its strategy of suing individual downloaders of copyright material. Instead it will adopt a more constructive approach, working with ISPs to identify those who upload copyright material in a move similar to the approach being taken in the UK.

Coming back to the UK, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham made headlines with an interview in the Telegraph in which he suggested that cinema-style age ratings could be applied to the Internet, and said he wanted to work with Obama’s administration to develop international deceny rules for English-language websites. This has caused an interesting debate to occur, with many comment boards filling up in response, and the majority not in favour.

Finally, fulfilling one of the recommendations of the Caio Review, the Valuation Office Agency set out how it will rate fibre in next generation broadband deployments. This is a timely clarification by the VOA, and although containing few surprises, helps to remove some of the uncertainty facing potential investors in NGA.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

Much has been made of Barack Obama’s successful use of the Internet in organising and coordinating his campaign, and in engaging (and soliciting donations from) his supporters, with many refering to him as the first candidate to successfully do this.

This is true, but it is worth remembering that he and John McCain were the first candidates with this opportunity. Currently, the US has 64% household penetration of broadband, which is sufficient critical mass for an organisation like Obama’s to flourish. However, in previous election years the same statistic was at 25% (at the start of 2004) and 0.25% (at the start of 2000).

Broadband growth has been exceptional, in the vast majority of markets. Growth has generally been faster than the mobile phone experienced, the spread of PC usage in the home, or even the take-up of tv. That broadband has been one of the fast growing trends in recent memory is worth remembering if the pace of the debate around many of the issues today feels slow - keeping up with such a fast-moving trend provides many challenges.

Obama made excellent use of broadband during the election. However, his extensive network may now be causing his transition team some problems. Apparently 290,000 applications have been received through his change.gov website for the 8,000 posts available, with the number of applications expected to rise to 1m by January.

By comparison in 2000, George W. Bush received just 44,000 applications. And this doesn’t include the bombardment of Obama staffers’ email accounts or social networking profiles. Information overload, perhaps? Sounds like a familiar debate…

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

On Friday last week the government announced it would be undertaking a Digital Britain Report, led by the new minister for technology, communications and broadcasting Stephen Carter. This represents an opportunity for Government to tackle a range of issues in a coordinated, strategic way. Hopwever, doing so requires that the report is not a stock-taking exercise of ongoing issues, but a proactive plan of action that provides strong government direction.

The value of this report would be in bringing together the various activities going on in the area of convergence, across different departments, in a coordinated, strategic way. In doing so, government can provide a strong direction, with the ultimate aim of ensuring that the UK’s digital infrastructure (and the surrounding policy and regulatory frameworks) is fit for a world-leading knowledge economy.

Commenting on the report, Peter Mandelson stated that ‘the digital economy will be central’ to Britain getting through the worst of the current crisis and preparing for the upturn; with this focus the report could be a valuable contribution to the health of the sector and the economic activity that it supports.

Looking at the issues identified for the report, there are already numerous initiatives either completed or underway that are tackling these. Indeed, one key issue for government is how this report interacts with these ongoing activities such as the Convergence Think Tank or the implementation of the Audio Visual Media Services Directive. A report that simply reviews these various policy debates will be of limited value.

The opportunity here is to bring together a range of ongoing issues that all relate to convergence but often sit across a number of government departments and lack an overall coordination. Addressing these at a strategic level, with government providing strong direction and leadership would be of benefit to the development of the converging industries.

It is rare that a new minister already has a command of their brief upon entering a new role, but in Stephen Carter this is exactly what has happened. With his knowledge and experience he should be able to hit the ground running, and use the Digital Britain report to drive government action, rather than simply set the scene for further reviews.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

According to the latest UK Internet Access Report from the Office of National Statistics those students with home broadband access are likely to do better in their GCSEs.

This is not really surprising. Broadband provides students with access to a wealth of resources that previously were simply unavailable. It can aid independent learning by encouraging independent research and discovery, and increase collaboration not just within schools, but across schools, countries and continents. At its most effective, it can completely transform the learning experience.

In 2003 the BSG published a report highlighting the opportunities that broadband presented to the education sector in the UK, and the barriers against wider take-up and use within the education system. It is good to see that broadband is having an effect, and we hope that this will continue as schools and teachers continue to understand how broadband can be utilised to enhance their students’ experiences.

There is still a long way to go, however. There is a big difference between those that do make effective use of broadband, and those that don’t, and particularly between students with access and students without. Progress is continuing in the right direction, with the Home Access To Technology programme within DCSF, and it is important that all concerned continue to work towards realising the full benefits that broadband access can offer education in the UK.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

“If our children were leaving the house, or going to a swimming pool or going to play in the street, we would take all the care possible about their safety - is there proper policing, is there proper safety? When a child goes on to the computer and on to the internet or on to a video game we should be thinking in the same way.”

This was the response from the Prime Minister to the review published last week by psychologist Tanya Byron, setting out recommendations to ensure that children and young people are protected from inappropriate and harmful material on the internet and in video games.

The publication of this landmark review reflects a growing policy emphasis on how web 2.0 should be effectively regulated.

Whilst no one would disagree with the importance of ensuring child protection on the web and on video games, there is a vocal concern from industry that regulation should not inhibit innovation. The new media industry is one of the UK’s most vibrant and is constantly developing new services – the principal users of which are, in many cases, children and young people.

Byron’s report is a considered and ambitious response to this important issue. Whilst many of last week’s headlines focused on her recommendation to extend the range of age classification for video games, a closer read of the 200+ page report (for those of you with the stamina) also reveals an important proposal on how regulation of web 2.0 should be driven forward.

Her solution to this quandary is the establishment of a UK Council on Child Internet Safety to develop a child internet safety strategy, that will cover both illegal and legal (though potentially harmful or inappropriate) activity.

Built on the structure of the existing Home Secretary’s Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet, the Council will be co-chaired by the Home Office and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, involve other relevant government departments and be staffed by a cross-departmental secretariat. It will report directly to the Prime Minister.

The Council will also be supported by an expert advisory group and research sub-group and involve industry through working groups to deliver specific initiatives such as codes of practice.

Byron also strongly recommends that mechanisms should be established by the Council to effectively involve parents, children and young people.

At first glance, this seems like an eminently sensible solution. It draws the relevant stakeholders together and an over-arching strategy would arguably reduce confusion about the array of policy developments individual departments are currently pursuing in this area.

However, it is an ambitious task, and Byron’s recommended deadline of Spring 2009 for both the establishment of the Council and publication of the strategy is a challenging timescale.

It remains unclear at present who will drive forward the development of the strategy, and what regulatory issues it will cover. Elsewhere in her report, Byron throws down a gauntlet to industry to develop codes of practice on areas such as user generated content, improving access to parental control software and safe search features, and better regulation of online advertising.

This builds on the vast array of work the industry has already taken to set common standards on issues that are important to their consumer. One example of which is the Good Practice Principles on Audiovisual Content, which were facilitated by the Broadband Stakeholder group (www.audiovisualcontent.org).

However, looking forward, could further regulatory proposals emerge under the strategy as a whole? Would this regulation be developed under a self or co regulatory model? And who will police and enforce these standards?

It has to be recognised that Byron has done an admiral job in pulling a wide array of issues together in her review. When it comes down to a more detailed look at how child internet safety will be regulated, however, there is still a very long road to travel.

By Pamela Learmonth, Policy Manager, BSG