In the words of Lord Carter maybe I ‘just don’t get it’ but like all of my contacts across this industry we all think, sorry, know, that 2Mbps is just not enough. I mean other than web browsing what use is it for premium services? Yes I know its great for facebook and youtube and skype and all sorts of basic web based applications but in order to make the service pay service providers *need* to be able to overlay chargeable content and services.
To be truly inclusive broadband must provide interactive services to the users. It must also be accessible – and by that I do not mean ‘the service is available to you because you have a BT line’. By accessible it must be affordable and that means a pay and go model. If a family doesn’t have a bank account, and in some parts of the UK up to 90% of HA residents don’t, then how can they be part of the digital inclusion? NONE of the providers that I am aware of provide a pay as you go broadband service (let alone a pay and go video/IPTV service!). They want a full 12 month contract or they don’t want to know. Universal service? sure as long as you can afford to buy it. Its the same for the payTV providers. No 12 month subscription payable by direct debit = no service. I believe they simply aren’t interested in providing to the digitally disenfranchised. They pay nothing but lip service to Digital inclusion.
The government can go on about ‘access’ as much as they like, this diverts from the real issues. Its about affordability and services not whether the cable runs past your house. By the way that assumes the family can actually afford a PC!
And while I am on the subject the whole access argument should not be just about terminating a broadband connection in the home but about providing a facilitating infrastructure to allow local online communities to develop and deliver their own services that are relevant to them.
Now that would be a universal service…….
