Wednesday, June 16, 2010

New Plans To Rewire Britain For Digital Age

Fibre optic

They are plans that could have a big impact on those living amongst the green hills of Mill End Farm, set in an idyllic corner of English countryside.

Farmer Anita Tackley and her family manage a thriving small business with 500 milking cows and a bed and breakfast in their 17th-century home.
But in this seemingly timeless landscape, they have got a very modern headache - no broadband internet.
The farm is in a 'not spot' - one of thousands across Britain that are too far from the nearest telephone exchange to get broadband access.
"Everybody else seems to be able to get a broadband connection so I don't see why we shouldn't be able to have one too," complained Anita.
She cannot get access to the up-to-the-minute weather forecasts she needs on the farm, and her daughters struggle to complete their school homework without a good internet connection.
Hambledon village
Hambledon village
In the nearby village of Hambleden, locals say they are being left behind by the information age - despite being just 40 miles from London.
"I just find it incredible that you can get an 8MB broadband connection in the middle of the Sahara Desert and yet here we are in a very affluent part of the country with no internet access at all other than dial-up," said resident Matt Murton, who works in the IT industry.
The village is not alone in sitting on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Some 40% of British households still do not have broadband, and average connection speeds lag well behind France, Germany, the US and Japan.
The Government's Digital Report - put together by Communications Minister Lord Carter - promises to solve Hambleden's problems.
A lot of digital industries can base themselves anywhere in the world; they're looking for good infrastructure, competitive tax rates and countries that are embracing the digital future.
Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt
The aim is quite literally to rewire Britain, making sure it does not fall even further behind on the information superhighway.
An interim report pushed for broadband in every household by 2012.
On top of that, the final report will likely suggest a new rights agency to crackdown on internet piracy and protect Britain's lucrative music and film industries.
There will also be a road map for switching to digital radio.
Those are big - and costly - plans. Controversially, some of the funding could come from diverting more than £100m of the BBC's licence fee.
Also in the mix is the future of Channel 4. It is believed the report will support a merger with the BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide.
At stake is the country's fast-growing information and communications sector which is worth £52bn annually and provides 500,000 jobs.
Laptop user
Internet piracy will be targeted
"It's an important part of really progressing as a global economy, as a serious power," said Daniel Sung, editor of Tech Digest.
He predicted that the report would be "fairly ambitious, but not unnecessarily so - it should be ambitious".
Lord Carter has had just eight months to draw up the report which will be eagerly analysed by both Government and industry.
"A lot of digital industries can base themselves anywhere in the world; they're looking for good infrastructure, competitive tax rates and countries that are embracing the digital future," said shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.
"What we're going to see today is whether the Government is up to that challenge or whether it ducks it."
FROM SKY NEWS

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