At first glance, the Government’s recent commitment to a universal broadband service by 2012 may sound welcome. In fact, it could be catastrophic for the communities and businesses of rural Britain. This is because the plan is to aim for a speed of two megabits per second, which looks woefully inadequate when South Korea, for example, is aiming for a universal service that runs 500 times faster.
Already, businesses in rural areas are being damaged by slow and unreliable broadband. With super-fast connections coming to cities, there are fears that a “digital chasm” will develop, given that no one is prepared to spend the billions needed to extend the network into the countryside. As government services, business deals and all kinds of information move online, rural dwellers will suffer – for example, through elderly people unable to have their health monitored remotely.
The future of rural broadband provision will be determined by the “Network Design and Procurement Group”, a body which will be created in the autumn. These appointments should come under the closest scrutiny. If traditional thinkers dominate, thinking outside the box will be irrelevant: they’ll be in the wrong box to start with. In plain English, they will be building a single-track road when a dual carriageway is required – a mentality that will leave rural communities in an information dark age within the decade.
The patchwork solutions that have been used until now are better than nothing – indeed, they have made a tremendous difference to many. But they must not be left with copper cables as the rest of Britain moves to faster fibre-optic connections. It is not cheap, but rural areas cannot continuously be playing catch-up – in fact, there are very strong arguments as to why they should be ahead of the curve rather than behind it.
It is unrealistic to expect companies such as BT, which have shareholders to consider, to lay fibre-optic cables where the density of users makes it uneconomic. But across Europe, solutions have been found by bringing together customers, public bodies and specialist network builders.
In northern Sweden, the workload of laying the cables has been split between network providers and customers. A similar scheme is being looked at near Kirriemuir in Scotland. In some cases in the UK, it may be enough simply to have either the NHS or the local authorities properly engaged. The village of Alston, on the borders of Cumbria and Northumberland, is a case in point. Alston and surrounding hamlets combined in the past to run their own wireless broadband service. The NHS has now seen the potential savings – and improved service – from using “telemedicine” in that area, and liaising with patients by video conferencing. The Alston/NHS project is now in the process of upgrading to fibre-optic cables, putting a 100 mbps connection in every home. These lessons and examples should not be lost on the new group. The potential for the NHS in rural areas is enormous and there is no reason why education authorities, or the police, could not be involved in mutually beneficial schemes.
The Government has a duty of care to rural areas to make this happen. This is not simply about helping small rural companies; although given that rural areas host 27 per cent of England’s business enterprises, it could be. This is about a service – broadband – which will become more important to the young and old, the poor and lonely than the quality of roads or public transport. Whether the Government makes it happen through existing organisations, incentives to local communities or by guaranteeing providers a return on their investment in infrastructure, the challenge must be met. (Via Telegraph)