Broadband For All: The Future Of Digital Britain

                                                                                         

What is broadband for all?

Communications minister Lord Stephen Carter has proposed that every home in the UK should receive access to broadband by 2012, either through a mobile phone or fixed phone line. Lord Carter wants to ensure that amongst others, the 1.75 million rural homes which can’t get a connection to broadband currently, will do in 2012.

Aiming to maximise broadband participation and service levels, broadband access is a large part of MP Lord Carter’s 22 listed proposals in the Digital Britain report, which focusses on the whole of the media industry in the UK.

How will broadband for all work?

The plan rules that broadband lines will have a line speed of at least 2 Mbps, which is fast enough to download a film overnight.

Fixed broadband is where a fixed phone line is installed in your home, and mobile broadband is focussed on a dongle device - after connecting to a PC’s USB connection, the dongle can access the web.

Fixed line broadband can be accessed either through a modem attached to your laptop, or a wirelessly within the vicinity.

Pros of broadband for all

It’s guaranteed that all British residents will be able to use the internet no matter their social situation, giving all an equal chance to access the wealth of information on the internet.

Broadband for all will help in improving and developing broadband systems for the future, aiming to evolve something many consumers around the UK depend on in their daily lives already, into an enviable world-class service.

A new UK wide minimum will be put into place for broadband connection speeds. Broadband connection speeds have been a issue for mobile broadband customers, in particular last year, when slow and an intermittent signal meant that despite the claims of broadband speeds up to 7Mbps, broadband speeds rarely reached this.

Telecom providers will be legislated in regards to building and funding a national broadband network - with a possible injection of the public’s money.

Cons of broadband for all

It remains to be seen whether broadband for all can be achieved within three years. In 2004, similar proposals were set out by George W.Bush, where he said the US goverment would ensure that all residents would get reasonable broadband by 2007, but in 2009, Barack Obama is now planning the same policy two years after it was supposed to be implemented.

Broadband for all critics are wary of the minimum broadband connection speed of 2 Mbps, saying that the plans are ‘timid’ in comparison to the current UK average connection speed of 3.6 Mbps.

BT’s proposals to create a broadband network for 10 million British homes are in jeopardy after their reported loss of profit, which could be a major hindrance in the legal requirement to build a broadband network as stipulated in the Digital Britain report, which is estimated at a £3.5billion cost.

About the author:
Samantha French has been a freelance journalist for over a decade. She works with a range of clients to produce copy for internet, magazines and television. She is also a full time writer for broadband comparison website Compare Broadband UK


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