Lord Carter has hit back at critics who suggest that calling for a 2Mb broadband connection for every person in the UK has set the sights far too low for the modern digital world.
Lord Carter's interim Digital Britain report picked up huge criticism on several points, but it was the decision to bring in broadband for all that inevitably hit the headlines.
However, the decision to set the lower limit at just 2Mb/s left many openly questioning why a broadband connection more suitable to a world in which streaming video and social networking have become so popular was not called for.
Defence
Speaking at a meeting organised by Nesta, (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), Lord Carter defended his choice.
"Those who say that a Universal Service Obligation of 2Mbps is a ludicrously low ambition miss the point," Lord Carter told a Nesta meeting.
"There is going to be 30 per cent of the country not covered by traditional markets and I'm not prepared to leave them behind. It is not an option to say that we will find a mop-up solution in 10 years' time.
'Acceptable' user experience
"In our judgement two megabits is a base level that means people can access government services and have an acceptable user experience," he said.
Essentially, Carter is saying that because some regions are already so far behind it would be unrealistic to call for a higher lower limit.
The obvious point will remain that if the government cannot see a way to bring the 30 per cent up to a better than a 2MB connection then nobody else will make the effort either.
Your comments (3) Click to add a new comment
jmace86
February 26th
3. Obviously, it would be great if we could get a fibre optic network installed thorughout the country, but I just think that such an undertaking would be financially impossible.
It would be nice to have fibre optic cables everywhere though...
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nicolasmerritt
February 25th
2. I dunno. You can deliver 2 Mbps through copper wire. Far higher speed requires fibre. Shouldn't it be about having a future proofed technological infrastructure, across the whole country?
Though I appreciate places like South Korea and Singapore are much more densely populated so it's easier and cheaper for them to install a fibre network into the home.
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jmace86
February 25th
1. Whilst I do agree with the critics that 2Mbps broadband is somewhat slow and would prefer the minimum speed to be higher I do also see Lord Carter's point as well.
The fact is 2Mbps is going to be the minimum speed, not the maximum, not the average, the minimum. There is nothing to prevent many areas (or even all areas) having a much higher speed and even in those areas that will only have the minimum 2Mbps speed, that is still a good deal higher than the speed that the unfortunate people in the country who live in areas without broadband at all experience!
Once we have 100% 2Mbps broadband coverage over the entire UK we can then focus on upgrading that further a few years down the line. Yes, this will mean that we are still behind many countries, but at least we will not be as far behind as we currently are!
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