Move to spur UK broadband speed

The government is willing to consider some form of limited public
intervention to spur private-sector investment in “ultra-fast�
broadband networks, a minister will say on Tuesday night.

Stephen Timms, minister for competitiveness, will use a speech to warn
that the UK risks lagging behind other leading industrialised
countries that are rolling out super-fast, fixed-line broadband
networks.

He will be addressing the Broadband Stakeholder Group, a lobby group
that warned in April that ministers and regulators had just two years
to find ways to encourage investment in high-speed broadband, or UK
competitiveness would suffer.

Mr Timms told the Financial Times on Monday he agreed with the group’s
timetable, and admitted competitiveness could be damaged if nothing
was done. He will convene an industry summit in November or December
to discuss possible government intervention to spur investment.

The UK risks falling behind on broadband because countries such as the
US, France, Germany and Japan are rolling out fixed-line networks made
of fibre-optic cable. These networks will deliver broadband speeds of
50 to 100 megabits a second, and should cope with the most bandwidth-
hungry businesses and homes.

By contrast, BT, the leading fixed-line telecommunications company, is
planning to offer UK homes broadband speeds of up to 24 Mbps next
year.

BT is looking at whether to install fibre as far as the street kerb,
where phone line cabinets are found, to deliver speeds of 40 to 50
Mbps.

But investors are nervous about BT making any big commitment to fibre.
BT executives have repeatedly insisted there is no economic case for
taking fibre all the way to homes, except on greenfield sites, because
of the costs.

Mr Timms will say in his speech: “We need timely deployment of
technology. We can’t afford to lag behind others. We need the right
conditions for the market to operate effectively.�

Mr Timms will make clear the government is unwilling to pay for ultra-
fast broadband networks. But on Monday he said regulatory reform was
one possible form of government intervention that might persuade
companies such as BT to run fibre to existing homes.

BT might spend more on a fibre network if Ofcom, the telecoms
regulator, permitted a pricing regime that enabled it to recoup its
costs.

from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/89e091fc-6...0779fd2ac.html

Regards
Sunil

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
The government is willing to consider some form of limited public
intervention to spur private-sector investment in "ultra-fast"
broadband networks, a minister will say on Tuesday night.

Stephen Timms, minister for competitiveness, will use a speech to warn
that the UK risks lagging behind other leading industrialised
countries that are rolling out super-fast, fixed-line broadband
networks.

He will be addressing the Broadband Stakeholder Group, a lobby group
that warned in April that ministers and regulators had just two years
to find ways to encourage investment in high-speed broadband, or UK
competitiveness?would?suffer.

Mr Timms told the Financial Times on Monday he agreed with the group's
timetable, and admitted competitiveness could be damaged if nothing
was done. He will convene an industry summit in November or December
to discuss possible government intervention to spur investment.

The UK risks falling behind on broadband because countries such as the
US, France, Germany and Japan are rolling out fixed-line networks made
of fibre-optic cable. These networks will deliver broadband speeds of
50 to 100 megabits a second, and should cope with the most bandwidth-
hungry businesses and homes.

By contrast, BT, the leading fixed-line telecommunications company, is
planning to offer UK homes broadband speeds of up to 24?Mbps next
year.

BT is looking at whether to install fibre as far as the street kerb,
where phone line cabinets are found, to deliver speeds of 40 to 50
Mbps.

But investors are nervous about BT making any big commitment to fibre.
BT executives have repeatedly insisted there is no economic case for
taking fibre all the way to homes, except on greenfield sites, because
of the costs.

Mr Timms will say in his speech: "We need timely deployment of
technology. We can't afford to lag behind others. We need the right
conditions for the market to operate effectively."

Mr Timms will make clear the government is unwilling to pay for ultra-
fast broadband networks. But on Monday he said regulatory reform was
one possible form of government intervention that might persuade
companies such as BT to run fibre to existing homes.

BT might spend more on a fibre network if Ofcom, the telecoms
regulator, permitted a pricing regime that enabled it to recoup its
costs.

from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/89e091fc-6...0779fd2ac.html

Regards
Sunil

They all miss one very important point - what is the use in super fast
speeds if there is a silly download limit that can be reached within
minutes, or you can only use it between certain hours!
It's pointless, as we see with many ISPs now. They take your money but do
not allow you to use the service advertised as they can't even manage up to
8Mbps.

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
> The government is willing to consider some form of limited public
> intervention to spur private-sector investment in "ultra-fast"
> broadband networks, a minister will say on Tuesday night.




< SNIP >


> Mr Timms will say in his speech:

I like this bit... did the reporter help write the speech, or was it his
brother, or his mate is the boss of the speech writer ... lol..


Best wishes,



News Reader

john lyon wrote:

> They all miss one very important point - what is the use in super fast
> speeds if there is a silly download limit that can be reached within
> minutes, or you can only use it between certain hours!
> It's pointless, as we see with many ISPs now. They take your money but do
> not allow you to use the service advertised as they can't even manage up to
> 8Mbps.

Why did you choose a crappy ISP ?

Besides, superfast broadband like that isn't designed for chav home users
dowloading pirated videos.

Graham

Why do they always go on about line speed.

They could do MUCH more for we end users by substantially improving
the contention ratio - but that cost <real> money!


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

"harrogate3" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:_qKHi.43564$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Why do they always go on about line speed.
>

Says the NTL man who is sitting pretty on his 10Mb connection. Some of us
have to tolerate the insane cable routing decisions BT made when the
greenfield site was built on. I can think of nothing better for my
broadband than fibre to the kerb or my house.

> They could do MUCH more for we end users by substantially improving the
> contention ratio - but that cost <real> money!
>
>
> --
> Woody
>
> harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com
>

harrogate3 wrote:

> Why do they always go on about line speed.
>
> They could do MUCH more for we end users by substantially improving
> the contention ratio - but that cost <real> money!

You CAN improve contention ration BY PAYING MORE !

20:1, 10:1 and uncontended broadband is widely available from 'real' ISPs.
e.g. http://idnet.com/broadband/default.jsp

Graham

"Eeyore" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
> harrogate3 wrote:
>
>> Why do they always go on about line speed.
>>
>> They could do MUCH more for we end users by substantially improving
>> the contention ratio - but that cost <real> money!
>
> You CAN improve contention ration BY PAYING MORE !
>
> 20:1, 10:1 and uncontended broadband is widely available from 'real' ISPs.
> e.g. http://idnet.com/broadband/default.jsp
>
> Graham
>
>
>

But again we have rediculous limits on downloading, with very low download
speeds.

ABC wrote:

> But again we have rediculous limits on downloading, with very low download
> speeds.


yes, the problem is that the cost of hauling the bandwidth across the UK
is in the region of 200 pounds per megabit per month.

The cost of hauling it around the world (IP transit) is in the region of
20 pounds per megabit.

So, something needs to be corrected in the wholesale markets too.

cheers
peter

--
peter gradwell. gradwell dot com Ltd. http://www.gradwell.com/
<email/web_hosting/business_voip> <t:01225 800 810>

** I'm hiring: www.gradwell.com/jobs/ **

"Peter Gradwell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:46efc5af$0$765$(E-Mail Removed)...
> ABC wrote:
>
>> But again we have rediculous limits on downloading, with very low
>> download speeds.
>
>
> yes, the problem is that the cost of hauling the bandwidth across the UK
> is in the region of 200 pounds per megabit per month.
>
> The cost of hauling it around the world (IP transit) is in the region of
> 20 pounds per megabit.
>
> So, something needs to be corrected in the wholesale markets too.
>
> cheers
> peter
>
> --
> peter gradwell. gradwell dot com Ltd. http://www.gradwell.com/
> <email/web_hosting/business_voip> <t:01225 800 810>
>
> ** I'm hiring: www.gradwell.com/jobs/ **

£200 per megabit per month?? So it cost 10x more to haul data across the UK
thyan it does to send the same amount of data across the world. Sums the UK
up completely!!

Why don't some of these telcos light up some of the dark fibre which was
layed several years ago linking most of the major cities/towns?