The House of Lords has announced plans to investigate the government's plans to have "the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015".
The House of Lords Communications Committee is overseeing the Bandwidth Hungry National inquiry to help identify whether the existing plans covering the roll-out of superfast broadband are really what the UK needs.
The Communications Committee is calling for interested organisations and individuals to provide written evidence as part of the inquiry. Expected changes in the use of digital communications over the next 20 years, whether the government's investment is being effectively applied to develop maximum social and economic benefit and what is being done to prevent a digital backwater in areas where the roll out of superfast broadband isn't commercially attractive are among the areas the inquiry will cover.
"Superfast broadband is clearly an important development across Britain, not just for economic growth but also because it will impact on how people do things such as view media content, shop and even access healthcare," said Lord Inglewood, Chairman of the Communications Committee.
"We want to look into the Government's proposals to find out if its targets are likely to be met and whether it is being ambitious enough in its plans. Issues such as investment, Britain's market in fibre optic products and whether the advances in broadband provision will require regulatory changes are all things that need to be looked at to ensure the strategy works."
In December, 2010, the government revealed it planned to spend £530m on bringing superfast broadband to every community in the UK by 2015. It wants every UK resident to be able to access 2Mbps broadband speeds, and 90 percent of the country to get super-fast broadband, defined by Ofcom as 24Mbps or above.
The Communications Committee said written evidence for the inquiry must be submitted by Tuesday 13 March 2012. It should be submitted in an editable electronic form, such as a Microsoft Word document, or as plain ASCII text, by email to holcommunications@parliament.uk. The committee expects to hold public hearings between March and June this year, with its final recommendations being presented before Parliament breaks up for summer.
Comments
Johnyboy said: Quite right and the last government did damn all in eleven years.
sirjohng said: I recently uploaded a 1h 6m film to You Tube and it took 34hrs on a 1Mbps line fortunately without a break.
Matt Egan said: Problem is, the government before last sold BT. So the government can't force it to do anything.
Johnyboy said: So, the Lords (those 10 or so modern, switched on people we see on television dozing through debates) are going to second guess the government with their own investigation which will come out in June?? This was to be the sharp and quick roll-out of "fast broadband for all" promised after the last election I believe? Until BT is forced to improve the infrastructure then nothing of any consequence will happen any time soon, that's for sure.
Tavistock Superfast Broadband said: You gave a main reason yourself. People are spending that amount of time doing those things. Television is on its way to be delivered solely via the internet. One reason why Sky are so involved. Not everyone is engaged on narrow use from Home Workers to Educational Study. There is a lot of uploading going on. It is not just simple internet browsing in multi-occupied homes. Want a Blu-ray Quality film on demand - 3 hours or 5 Minutes - your choice.If you think how long a file can take to download sometimes - the time it takes to upload is horrendous.
krisuk said: Superfast broadband? Some areas are still on dial-up! So Govt wants everyone to have access to at least 2Mbs; that'll be an improvement for many, then, living in rural areas; the average is about 1 Mbs at the end of a copper telephone wire. However it seems plenty fast enough for the average user, downloading email and casual web-surfing. Just what exactly is the point of 24Mbs? Businesses might want it, but it seems excessive for the standard household unless they're spending all their lives watching videos and playing games. And they're going to do it in three years? No chance.
Tavistock Superfast Broadband said: This is needed - there is not enough UK Government focus with the job in hand. The monies from all separate bids and administrations from local authorities could be better spent on roll-out. There are not that many network infrastructure players that this could not be engaged on a central government basis.