H2O’s announcement last week that it will be running fibre cable through sewers in Dundee, Northampton and Bournemouth has certainly received plenty of coverage, generating considerable journalistic interest and consumer comment. The idea of running cable through the sewers has long been discussed in the UK, and is an idea utilised elsewhere in the world.

It is unlikely, however, that the use of sewers will be a panacea for deployment of fibre, and next generation access (NGA) more generally, throughout the UK. In many areas of the country it will not be appropriate, or possible, to use the sewer infrastructure. H2O’s fibrecity concept combines fibre in the sewers with WiMax technology to deliver NGA to existing households, and will provide a wireless WiFi connectivity in the cities themselves, alongside the FTTH deployment for new homes. Using the sewers will only be part of the solution as we move towards an NGA future in the UK.

NGA deployment, by whatever means, is considered by most to be a necessary evolution of broadband in the UK, for a variety of reasons. There is not enough evidence, however, to support investment by incumbent operators on a large scale. This may well lend itself to a patchwork of deployments and technologies across the UK, with a strong likelihood that some areas will receive NGA faster than others. It will be interesting to see whether this city model takes off, and what impact that has on other areas of the UK.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

The government’s new Convergence Think Tank (CTT) is due to have its first meeting in just over a fortnight. With such a wide brief in an ever-charging area there will be a variety of issues for it to address, and no shortage of voices striving to be heard.

Addressing the Oxford Media Convention last Thursday, Secretary of State James Purnell outlined one of the key issues that the CTT will look at: the future of public service broadcasting (PSB). It is a safe bet that this will be at or near the top of the agenda, as this is an area of importance for DCMS, and also for the viewing public and the broadcasting industry. PSB’s evolution in a converged world is a core issue, and it is important that this debate takes place.

But what else aside from PSB will be on the think tank’s agenda? Also speaking at the Convention was Robin Foster, a member of the CTT’s steering group which is advising on the agenda. Foster spoke of the importance of next generation access (NGA), and said that he felt the issue should be one of the key items on the group’s agenda.

NGA, if and when the investment occurs in the UK, could have a profound impact on the communications market in the UK. The development or not of NGA, for example, could influence the future evolution of broadcasting in general, and PSB in particular. It will be interesting to see how this issue is addressed by the CTT, and to what extent it contributes to the growing debate around NGA.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG

Following an EU procurement process, Thales, along with bid partners Alcatel Lucent and Kingston Communication, have been chosen as the preferred bidder to deliver the Digital Region project, which will provide a next generation access network to approximately 600,000 homes across South Yorkshire.

Four local authorities in the South Yorkshire area have put the Digital Region project together. The key aim is to create an infrastructure for the region that will spur economic regeneration, offering high bandwidth broadband that will encourage knowledge-based business to the region and provide the opportunity for business located in the region to offer new services and enter new markets. The project, it is hoped, will also partially address the digital divide in the region: only around 20% of households have taken up a broadband service.

Industry, government and regional development agencies are watching this project with interest. Current debate around if, how and when the public sector should intervene in the investment in next generation access technologies has yet to provide a clear consensus amongst stakeholders. The outcome of this project will go some way to clarifying this debate, and providing experience to inform models for possible further public sector interventions elsewhere in the UK.

Australia’s new Labor government has been quick to follow-up on its key election pledge to make Australia a global leader in broadband. Within days of being elected, the new government announced the creation of a new Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. It has also pushed ahead with its plan to deploy a super fast new fibre to the node (FTTN) network throughout the country.

Labor’s broadband proposals became a high profile issue during the election. So much so that the incumbent government rushed to produce an alternative plan of its own, and the two parties soon found themselves competing to see who would pledge the most public funding to support the roll out of these new broadband networks.

However, the new government’s plans have just hit their first hitch. The government-backed proposal that involves a consortium of companies called the G9 group was rejected by the Australian competition regulator. The competition authority raised concerns about the lack of a clear pricing structure after the first three years of what is a 15-year deal. The G9 group insist there is as much clarity as possible in their proposal, given the difficulty of predicting demand for next generation access (NGA) services that far out.

So it’s back to the drawing board for now. But the current situation in Australia highlights some of the complexities involved in the transition to the next generation of broadband, particularly around predicting demand for services, take-up amongst business and consumers, and appropriate pricing structures.

It will be interesting to see how the new government and the G9 group approach this first hurdle, whether they will be able to overcome the concerns of the competition regulator, and if so, how.

Peter Shearman, Policy Manager, BSG