| Britain's narrow band of understanding |
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| Written by Groupe Intellex Global | |||
| Wednesday, 15 October 2003 01:00 | |||
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Yes, this was the year that folks started talking about different types of broadband for different user needs – and started to realise that the word had been hijacked by the big brands to mean almost anything a bit faster than dial-up. This left some delegates wondering just why they were putting so much energy into clamouring for something as inadequate as ADSL when, even with the promised future upgrades, it was never really going to deliver an affordable, robust, ubiquitous service that might get close to reaching international standards. On the Rage Agenda (RA) the grass roots bottom up community activists were given air-time enough to make a few policy wonks wonder whether the Industry had lost the plot. In much the same way as the centralist forces of darkness talk about the last mile – not the first mile – so did the pundits talk about the Content Industry needing to be imaginative but without grasping the fact that all available stocks of imagination have long been seized or stolen by users who are not waiting for permission to be told what they are allowed to do with their new network freedoms.
Rage was also in the air regarding available spectrum and the slowness of the regulator to pick up on the idea that the UK was supposed to have a policy agenda for Broadband Britain. In the audience was a single representative of the UK’s Radiocommunications Agency, so it has yet to be seen whether the full force of the high level criticism from the podium in the closing session will be clearly communicated back at base. And, if they weren’t listening to their new Chairman the night before, then they’d best get a transcript pronto. En route, the conference took a diversion to wonder at England’s green but pleasant land – the public sector. Have we all become so risk averse that we have to spend more than 50% of the resources ‘validating the budget’ rather than spending it? Do we really need to wait for permission rather than crack on with something sensible and perhaps later ask for forgiveness? Did anyone ever do a study on the health impacts of hot water? Maybe we should revisit (that’s the new word for audit) the decision to change from DC to AC electricity. Is broadband not supposed to be like fresh air – breathing life into the economy? Except that fresh air is usually better in the countryside. Rising wonderfully above a plethora of content-free presentations and panel pundits, David Cleevely’s injection of some realistic observations of the way these things are managed elsewhere in the world – notably Japan - really was a breath of fresh air and food for thought. Other highlights included Jim Norton puncturing over-hyped WiMAX balloons and barely suppressed giggles when one presenter referred disparagingly to ‘Muppets’, not realising that the ex-BBC TV producer of the original show was in the audience.
Yes, the conference had moments of light relief amongst the deadly seriousness business of living in Broad Banned Britain. And it ended like the very best (or worst) of pre-election party conferences. Broadband mean jobs. Jobs mean votes. Rage. Take action. Keep at it, for tomorrow, said the BSG Chairman, is a new day. Go back to your constituencies and prepare for broadband – or something like that.
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| Last Updated on Friday, 11 July 2008 14:04 |
October 2003 - Groupe Intellex reports from the UK's Broadband Stakeholder Group 2003 Conference. 