Wake-up call for Ofcom

Ofcom rightly prides itself on being an evidence-based regulator but that house style of cool detachment can sometimes appear rather self-satisfied -even smug, Nowhere is this presentational problem more evident than in the UK’s relative performance in broadband, The concern of some observers is that, despite numerous upbeat and back-slapping statements from Ofcom, the UK’s broadband infrastructure has increasingly been slipping behind the demand curve.  In its latest edition, Ofcom’s annual International Communications Market report, appears to justify that concern.

This report makes it clear that, on the demand side, the UK leads the field in many ways:

·        We are way ahead in terms of internet commerce – over a six-month period, the average UK consumer spent over £1,000 online, double that of some other countries.

·        the UK saw the highest growth in smartphone take-up among the countries surveyed by Ofcom, with a 70% rise in subscriber numbers in 2009.

·        The UK also leads when it comes to take-up of digital TV,

There is clearly a healthy appetite for advanced services in this country but the Ofcom report concedes that, by international standards, our infrastructure is not up to the job: Only a tiny percentage of UK homes have super-fast broadband and mobile speeds are slow compared to other nations. The latter is a particular concern – the theoretical maximum mobile download speed in the UK is 7.2Mbps, compared to 28Mbps in Germany, 30Mbps in the US, 42Mbps in Japan and 100Mbps in Sweden”.

Ed Richards of Ofcom tends to blame this broadband mismatch on factors outside his control, specifically the delays in releasing suitable spectrum.  But his defensiveness also takes more quirky forms, e.g.

"I think sometimes the cycles of these things are different in different countries. It is not just a matter of flicking a switch,"

No, it’s not but maybe the time has come for the regulator to take a more proactive position on the UK’s broadband networks.  The risk is that if we wait to gather compelling evidence of market failure, it may already be too late.