CommsWatch

This year, I was a judge in the Nominet Best Practice Challenge 2009. I was asked to look particularly at the nominations in the category for Personal Safety Online which were:

• Thinkuknow
• CyberMentors
• KidSMART
• e-Crime Wales
• E-Victims Organisation

The results in all five categories were announced last night at a dinner held in the splendid environs of London's Banqueting House. I presented the award in the category for Personal Safety Online which went to ChildNet International for KidSMART.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a statement in the House of Lords, Lord Mandelson has now confirmed what has been apparent for several weeks: the Government does not intend to proceed with the Postal Services Bill because it cannot obtain an acceptable price for the 30% of Royal Mail it wishes to sell and it cannot win sufficient support for this part privatisation from backbench Labour MPs.

So, what happens now? Does the regulatory blight and business uncertainty continue for another year on top of the year and half that this has already been the case? The Hooper Report and the Government always insisted that the status quo was not an option - but, at the moment, it looks as if the status quo is exactly what we have.

In an earlier posting, I made my position clear.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a little noticed announcement, KCOM Group PLC (KCOM.L) has announced that it has signed a strategic agreement with BT Group, which will see KCOM extend its network reach through access to BT's national network, and outsource the management of its network assets to BT's wholesale division.

Further information here.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The private company H2O Networks claims to be revolutionising the deployment and build of fibre optic networks in the UK. It has created the FS (Fibre Optical Cable Underground Sewer System) and builds bespoke fibre links, utilising the waste water networks, which allows it to be faster and more cost effective than the traditional methods.

It has already announced two of its Fibrecities at Bournemouth and Dundee. I understand that, in the next couple of weeks, it will announce three more schemes in England. A couple of months after that, three more will be announced. Then, another three months later, a further four schemes will be announced.

When H2O has a total of 12 local NGA schemes in operation, it will be a major player in this space - outgunned only by BT and Virgin Media.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the last few months, the Community Broadband Network (NGA) has organised a series of six regional events sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent and designed to examine how local communities can develop schemes to provide next generation access (NGA). The events have been held in Gateshead, Nottingham, Bristol, Birmingham, Basingstoke and Manchester.

On behalf of the Communications Consumer Panel, I have spoken at four of these events, outlining a study we have carried out tracking the 40 or so local initiatives on next generation broadband. The Manchester conference – the last in the current series – was held last week and was the most up-beat of the enthusiastic events.

The main reason for the excitement was the recent publication of the Digital Britain Final Report. As one speaker put it: “Digital Britain has changed the landscape”. He said of the NGA debate: “It's leapt forward a long way”.

Lord Carter – who produced the report – was not able to be present but recorded a video speech for the conference. His report recommended that investment in NGA in the 'final third' of the country be encouraged by the levying of 50 a month on all users of fixed lines and this is a proposal which has been supported in a statement by the CBN.

The Digital Britain Final Report gives encouragement to local NGA schemes but rightly calls for common technical standards and inter-operability. For this purpose, an initial £150,000 has been made available for a new organisation called the Independent Networks Cooperative Association (INCA) and INCA was officially launched at the Manchester conference.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lord Carter has been an very unconventional Minister in many respects: he had no previous political experience except a short, unhappy time at No 10; he was given a uniquely converged portfolio covering both telecommunications and broadcasting; and he has used his limited time as a Minister to mount a specific, large-scale project, namely Digital Britain.

As I have said before, whatever criticisms people may have on particular proposals, anyone who has worked in Whitehall (as I once did for four years) will recognise that to produce a Government report of this scope on this timescale is seriously impressive.

But it is clear that Stephen Carter will leave Whitehall in the early summer. So, after Carter, who? I don't imagine for a moment that the Prime Minister will want my advice - but,thanks to the wonders of blogging, I can offer it anyway.

If I was Gordon Brown, I would keep Lord Carter's portfolio together and add digital inclusion and give the whole lot to Stephen Timms and then I would appoint Timms as a Secretary of State in the Department for Innovation, Business and Skills.

Organisationally, this is not ideal. BIS is a huge Department and there's a case for some kind of Ministry of Communications. But civil servants have had enough tinkering around with the structure of Government recently and, in any event, the General Election is less than a year away.

My suggestion would mean that there would be two Secretaries of State and two Cabinet attendees from one Department, but this is workable. Lord Mandelson is already First Secretary of State so his position as the most senior SoS is already secure. Creating a second SoS for BIS by appointing an elected MP means that Timms could represent the Department in the House of Commons which would overcome the present perceived democratic deficit.

Most importantly, my suggestion would put implementation and development of the Digital Britain project in the hands of the the Minister most knowledgeable about the issues and most enthusiastic about driving them forward. He's already had responsibilty for the ICT sector twice as a junior minister and deserves to have this wider portfolio in a more senior capacity, so that the digital agenda becomes a Cabinet-wide issue and priority.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What we know: the Postal Services Bill was due to have its Second Reading in the House of Commons on the Tuesday after the local and European elections; the debate was cancelled and so far has not been rescheduled; the Bill cannot now reach the Statute Book by the Summer recess.

What we think we know: the Government received only two firm offers for the proposed sale of some 30% of Royal Mail, one from CVC Capital Partners and the other from Dutch postal group TNT; the highest offer from CVC, at just under £2 billion, is regarded as too low by the Government; Labour MPs opposed to the sale have been reassured that this issue will be sorted.

So where do we go from here?

If the Government (for whatever reason) feels that it cannot or does not want to proceed with such a sale at this time, it should recognise that the whole postal sector needs a clear statement on this decision and a clear programme on the way forward. If the idea of a strategic partnership is not to be acted upon at this stage, all the problems facing Royal Mail - regulatory uncertainty, slow modernisation, inadequate investment, declining volumes, a rising pensions deficit, and poor industrial relations - remain and need to be addressed urgently. Otherwise the business will move from challenge to crisis and the universal service that consumers value so highly will be at serious risk.

The urgent need now is to sort out the future of the Postal Services Bill. If the Government does not now want or need the powers for a partial sale of Royal Mail, it should urgently proceed with the remaining parts of the Bill so that the regulatory blight is lifted and the pensions issue is addressed. The other parts of the Bill are relatively uncontroversial and the subject of cross-party agreement. It now looks impossible that the Bill could reach the Statute Book before the recess as originally intended - but it would he helpful to see real progress made (at least a Second Reading and possibly the Committee Stage) before the recess, so that a clear signal is given to all stakeholders and customers and so that the remaining stages can be speedily concluded in the spill-over session in the Autumn.

Posted by Roger Darlington at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week, the Commission for Rural Communities published a useful report on the need to ensure that rural England does not lose out in the provision of current and next generation broadband in England. As the Member for England on the Communications Consumer Panel, I naturally welcome the report.

It is entitled: "Mind The Gap" - ironically an injunction that one hears most frequently when travelling on the London Underground. You can access the 60-page report here.

The CRC supports the Government’s commitment to universal service at 2Mbps by 2012 and the report looks at how the universal service commitment could be delivered. The CRC also welcomes the moves to fund Next Generation Access, as the CRC firmly believe that first generation broadband is unlikely to be capable of meeting the needs of a large proportion of rural areas. The report places these issues within the context of identifying 4 key priority areas that the Government must tackle:

o education and lifelong learning
o business development
o social and community cohesion
o equitable access to services

The day the report was launched, I was actually speaking at a conference on the growing number of local initiatives in the provision of next generation access, so I was especially interested in the CRC recommendations that:

"CRC recommend that alternative investment models for rural areas should be explored and adopted."

and

"The CRC wants to see more support for communities to help themselves in delivering their own solutions to digital technology challenges. We would wish to see a comprehensive support network for community broadband networks including practical advice and guidance to help communities deliver their own local solutions by setting up community broadband networks."

Posted by Roger Darlington at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)