Hold the Champagne, boys…

Great news this month that every EU household now has access to basic broadband!  Well, that is if you include satellite coverage - which we didn’t before.  As Neelie Kroes says: 

“The EU is technology neutral, but for those in the most isolated areas, satellite is a good option to stay connected; and it's likely to remain so… Thanks to the extra coverage provided by satellite broadband, we have achieved our 2013 target of broadband for all. That's a great result for European citizens” 

As a reminder, ‘basic broadband for all’ was the first leg of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) targets, i.e. 

·        Basic broadband (0.5-4Mbps) for all by 2013;

·        Next Generation Networks (30 Mbps or more) for all by 2020;

·        50% of households having 100 Mbps subscriptions or higher 

In the absence of satellite coverage, however, there is still some way to go before fixed networks of acceptable quality reach 100% of the population (the Universal Service Commitment in other words)..  At an EU level the same Press Release claims that fewer than 4% of citizens are denied access to fixed broadband but data released by Ofcom last week show that the equivalent UK figure is now hovering around 8%, i.e. 

Percentage of connections receiving

less than 2Mbit/s (June 2013) 

England                            8%

 

Scotland                            8%

Northern Ireland                12%

Wales                                12%

Total UK                          8% 

The good news is that these percentages have been falling pretty steadily over the past two years: the less positive story is that getting the figures down to zero may be more challenging than expected. We tend to assume that ‘citizens’ who have access to even relatively modest broadband improvement will grab it with both hands but the Ofcom Infrastructure Report suggests otherwise: 

“There are consumers on these slow lines who are in postcodes where NGA networks are available and, by upgrading their service, could receive much higher speeds.  When slow lines in postcodes where NGA is available are excluded, the percentage of connections operating at below 2Mbit/s reduces from 8% to just 3%”.  

Who are these people?  Why put up with an inadequate broadband service when a much better alternative is readily available?  Or is the real problem one of in-home wiring?  Whatever the reason, it’s evident that upgrading the infrastructure is only part of the battle.  Going back to Neelie’s Press Release, she was clearly wise to frame her celebration in terms of digital potential, i.e. 

“My motto is Every European Digital – now every European genuinely has the opportunity. We have more to do to improve networks and equalise the opportunity, but the opportunity is there.”