On Thursday of last week, the UK released its interim Digital Britain report, setting out a strategy for building their knowledge economy.
The report contains more than 20 recommendations, including specific proposals on network issues as well as cultural issues such as the future of radio and intellectual property rights.
Of most immediate relevance to regulatory activities underway in Canada, the report sees no grounds for net neutrality legislation. It is concerned that net neutrality regulation might prevent pricing innovation, differentiation of offers and serve to discourage investment in higher-speed access networks.
Ofcom has stated that provided consumers are properly informed, such new business models could be an important part of the investment case for Next Generation Access, provided consumers are properly informed.
On the same basis, the Government has yet to see a case for legislation in favour of net neutrality. In consequence, unless Ofcom find network operators or ISPs to have Significant Market Power and justify intervention on competition grounds, traffic management will not be prevented.
The full report can be downloaded [
pdf, 1.07MB]. It sets out 5 main objectives:
- Upgrading and modernizing Britain’s digital networks – wired, wireless and broadcast – so that Britain has an infrastructure that enables it to remain globally competitive in the digital world;
- Creating a dynamic investment climate for UK digital content, applications and services, that makes the UK an attractive place for both domestic and inward investment in our digital economy;
- UK content for UK users: content of quality and scale that serves the interests, experiences and needs of all UK citizens; in particular impartial news, comment and analysis;
- Fairness and access for all: universal availability coupled with the skills and digital literacy to enable near-universal participation in the digital economy and digital society; and
- Developing the infrastructure, skills and take-up to enable the widespread online delivery of public services and business interface with Government.
Note that in the fourth bullet, universal availability is tied to near-universal adoption. As I wrote in November, as we increase broadband service availability, we need to focus on getting people to actually get on-line.
The Digital Britain report calls for a digital Universal Service Commitment to be effective by 2012, delivered by a mixture of fixed and mobile, wired and wireless means. Their target is a modest 2Mbps service. There are no suggestions on how to fund this Commitment – that is left to later.
How will Britain address service adoption? It will encourage the development of public service champions of universal take-up.
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Digital Britain, net neutrality