2010: A broadband odyssey

Q&A The Access to Broadband Campaign (ABC) was launched last year by several of Britain's leading broadband activists. It is pushing government and industry to make high-speed Internet access available across the UK, and supports individuals who want to create their own community broadband networks.

ZDNet UK caught up with Brian Condon, who was appointed as ABC's first chief executive in November 2003, at the Wireless LAN Event in London this week.

Britain is well-stocked with organisations related to broadband. What does ABC bring to the table, and why are you a part of the group?
I got involved with the Access to Broadband Campaign after attending their first conference in July 2003. I'd started my own business that year, and then discovered I couldn't get broadband. So I began investigating whether I could set up by own broadband network, perhaps by using satellite, read about ABC and pitched up at their conference. That was a great event, and it was so exciting that the guys running it were clearly going places.

ABC tackles broadband through a different agenda. Usually, people campaign against things rather than for them. ABC campaigns for affordable broadband across the UK. We need universal broadband coverage, otherwise there is both an economic and a social problem.

And what are your priorities? What do you hope to achieve as head of ABC?
My real interest is the 2010 agenda, the issue of what Broadband Britain will look like then. DSL is great, and a fantastic improvement on dial-up, but we still have the issue that 10 to 20 percent of people won't be able to get ADSL. And as we move forward there will be a set of people for whom DSL won't be enough. We need to prepare now, and start thinking about the model should be for 2010. It would be great if everyone could get a gigabit per second if they wanted it.

Does that mean that a whole new telecommunications network needs to be built?
ABC is technology-agnostic. We want the best and most appropriate services available for people's needs. No-one knows what the 2010 picture will be, but it's probably going to be a combination of fibre and wireless.

Are we moving away from a debate just about availability towards one that pays more attention to applications?
If BT enables a local exchange, that doesn't just mean that the local campaigns should stop. It gives them more options. Take Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, for example. They couldn't get broadband from BT, so the community banded together to find an alternative solution. BT then ADSL-enabled the local exchange, but instead of disbanding the community group became a reseller of DSL services. They are also using wireless to bring broadband to people who live too far from the exchange to get DSL.

Another important thing will be community-based content, stored on local servers. It's early days, but projects such as the Alston Cybermoor scheme in Cumbria are showing how communities can generate their own broadband services. These things need a lot more bandwidth, and as people get used to more bandwidth they'll create their own compelling services.