Ofcom to get involved with broadband industry summit
October 21, 2007
According to recent reports the communications regulator Ofcom is to get involved in a summit that is to be held with the broadband industry in a bid to get the UK geared up for technological advancements and higher speeds for the future.
Stephen Timms, the former e-commerce minister and minister for competitiveness, will also be getting involved in the summit, which industry professionals hope will get the UK on track to embrace the future of broadband.
At present the UK has been identified as lagging behind many other developed countries when it comes to accepting advancements in broadband technology, with countries like Japan and the Netherlands already having technology in place to accept the higher speeds of the future. This is through the use of fibre based networks, which are not commonly used in the UK. This was causing concern amongst many experts, hence the need for a summit was identified.
Officials from BT Openreach have commented on the situation, and have stated that it would be quite easy to lay the necessary fibre networks on new housing developments as the properties are being built.
One official stated: “The government has said there is going to be a major acceleration in housebuilding and, for Openreach, putting fibre into the ground is just as easy as putting copper into the ground.”
Stephen Timms stated: “When I became e-commerce minister five years ago, the UK was neck and neck with Croatia on broadband availability and use. We fixed that problem and put Britain in a leading position. However, today we face a new challenge. Other countries are starting to invest in new, fibre-based infrastructure, delivering considerably higher bandwidth than is available in the UK today.”
He also said: “It is essential that the UK undertakes timely deployment of technology - we can’t lag behind.”
Alan Wright
21st October 2007
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