We have all been there - or very nearly there.

We are experiencing high levels of  [insert their problem] at this time.

How long do we hang on hoping for some action ?

You are held in a queue.

For how long do we individually (or collectively) believe that we are getting through ?

One of our Operators will be with you…… 

Hang on.  Do any of us still believe/imagine/hope that we are getting through to any of our Operators ? 

If the latest report on the state of our nation gives an accurate picture of broadband services, then, on average, we are getting less than half of what we have been sold.  Moreover, the report says, those who buy a supposedly better product get a worse-than-average service. 

Furthermore, this Ofcom report tells us that what we have been sold by our operators is something that not many of us understand.   The report goes to some length to explain why, apparently, we cannot have what it is that we are being sold. 

Whilst protesting that most of us (who do not know what we are buying or getting) appear to be satisfied (leastways if we live close a telephone exchange in London) Ofcom is driven to the conclusion: 

“Ofcom’s broadband speeds code of practice requires ISPs to better explain to new customers what speeds they are likely to obtain in practice, and also to tell them what steps they can take to improve their broadband performance. Our research findings indicate that there is both consumer demand for such information and room for further improvement in these areas.”  

Hang on.  [Your call is important to us.] Resist the temptation to deconstruct. 

Let us not underestimate the importance of these penny-dropping moments.  The UK has now fallen so far behind in the provision of adequate access infrastructures that comforting assurances of the UK’s broadband brilliance are unsustainable.   Travel broadens the mind and you do not have to stray far from UK shores to understand that broadband is broader abroad. 

We should, of course, applaud Ofcom for seeking the evidence that might inform future policy.  One might wonder where now we would be if they had taken their remit more seriously from inception. 

Telecoms regulation, it seems, is not unlike the best efforts of the financial services sector.  In the current credibility crunch, as the saying goes, ‘when the tide goes out you can see who has been swimming naked.’ 

With the prospect of reality dawning and the Herculean effort that must surely have been needed to create a monitoring and analysis methodology to find out what has (or has not) been going on all these years, it might seem to be less than generous to expect more.

In his earlier commercial life a former senior leader of Ofcom was known to look at business plans and ask “Is this all I’m ever going to get?”  Fortunately ‘more’ is what you get when you stand back from the heat of the UK’s parochial regulatory skirmishes and seek a fresh perspective on both the current position and the future need. 

It is increasingly obvious to politicians of all shades that in the hour of the nation’s economic need, more is not optional.  Infrastructure investment takes time and we have, alas, been hanging on to the last generation network for too long.  To borrow a memorable line from the US Presidential campaign, ‘You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig’.

Next Generation Access is going to need next generation investors.  It’s time to hang-up on the Operator’s hang-ups. 

Please hold during the silence.

_________________________

Notes:

The author is managing director of Groupe Intellex - a consultancy practice specialising in the introduction of innovative technologies.

This editorial reflects a long-standing regulatory policy position taken by the Communications Management Association who now welcome Ofcom's belated attention to these issues.  Ofcom Consultation submission November 2007 refers.

'Please hold during the silence' is a phrase taken from a major UK Operator's broadband service heldesk.  It was previously quoted in the 2004 editorial 'Hang on in there'.

Further information on the Oxford Said Business School international Broadband Quality Study (BQS) is available on request.  The study suggests that the telecoms access infrastructures in Sweden and The Netherlands (where local independently-managed Open Access FTTH networks are increasingly regarded as the norm) are better placed to meet current and future requirements.   In the BQS study the assessment of broadband quality combines download, upload and latency performance measurements.  It looks at current performance and its relevance for today's and future application needs.   The analysis looks beyond the differences in advertised and actual download speeds (a failure of marketing regulation) and shines a light on infrastructure inadequacies - a failure of competition policy and market mechanisms to bring forward investment in new access utilities.

And from the Groupe Intellex Archive see also:

 'Sticking the the Straight and Narrow'  (March 2003)

'The End of the Line' (November 2007)

(C) Groupe Intellex 2009 - syndication welcome