Businesses in rural areas received a broadband snub from Ofcom this week as the telecoms regulator poured cold water on the prospect of fibre being deployed in the local loop.
Fibre-optic networks deliver far higher bandwidth to customers than DSL can. Because DSL speeds decline with distance from the telephone exchange, rural businesses currently face inferior broadband service, if they can get it at all.
According to research by the Communications Management Association (CMA) on Wednesday, 41 percent of businesses cannot get broadband where they need it.
There has been much debate about whether fibre could provide an alternative. BT has trialled fibre in the local loop, and this week said it would connect all the houses in a new housing estate in Kent with fibre-optic connections. A slowly developing fibre project in South Yorkshire is also underway.
But Ofcom remains less than convinced. Delivering a keynote speech at the CMA's annual conference on Wednesday, the regulator's chairman, Lord Currie said: "For customers who live too far from an exchange, technically this is a problem that could be solved by fibre. But the services are not yet defined, the technology is not yet stable, and so it is too early for a regulatory approach. The case for digging up the road is a rather weak one."
When challenged by conference delegates, Currie admitted there might be a case for deploying fibre as far as street cabinets, but stood by his opinions over fibre being laid as far as individual homes and businesses.
Currie also grasped his speaking opportunity to assure businesses that Ofcom was interested in helping their cause, and not just pursuing issues relevant to consumers.
Talkback
Living in a village 4 miles from the nearest exchange is like living on another planet - maximum sped is 512kbps and as I work from home with associates in the EU and in all other continents, broadband speed is important and my speed is such that I am thinking of selling and moving just to get 2 Mbps so i can conduct my business efficiently.
In other countries fibre optis is always put in with new housing projects and old copper wiring is or has been replaced with fibre when ever work has to be done on copper wiring - is it not time that this country stopped thinking that we have the best of everything - that is as far from the truth as you can get.
I have lived and worked in many countries over the past 20 years and we are backward in so many services - telecommunications is one, the other for business is banking - this is still in the stoneage - still no electronic cheque clearing !!
I don't know - I have to disagree with you slightly here. First of all, I do feel sorry for you getting nothing faster than a 512Kbps connection. Beaten by the law of physics: after 2 miles, DSL does degrade rapidly. The problem is, fibre to the home is expensive. NTL and Telewest did that in the 1990s - then both sought bankruptcy protection several years later. BT is only really comtemplating fibre for large greenfield sites and for large businesses. We are in danger of a digital divide, but there are precious few sensible solutions to stop it.
I think your excuses aren't very good as it doesn't explain how other countries are able to do it, but not the UK. Maybe some more government help is required, not just leaving it to the profit desiring shareholders...
I also don't see why you are blaming Ofcom for this? They are basically saying that it will be too expensive/complex/risky for everyone if they regulated it, but that is hardly Ofcom's fault now is it?
No, I don't think it is Ofcom's fault. The point I was trying to raise is that it is very, very expensive to get good quality broadband into the most rural areas. Private businesses won't provide broadband to these areas and it would be expensive for the government to do so. Although wireless technologies such as WiMax could change that dynamic. In terms of other countries, their populations are spread differently (in geographical terms) and this changes the cost of broadband delivery.
Yes, other countries are spread differently, but I thought that England in particular was one of the most densely populated EU countries, so thus is should be the easiest???
Maybe it is more down to the cost of subcontracting projects like this and the red tape involved which is more a legal and procedual issue I guess.