Transcript Point Topic
Strategies for rural broadband
The need for radical action
Tim Johnson, Chief Analyst, Point Topic
NextGen 2010: Broadband in the Rural Economy
23 November 2010
www.point-topic.com
Three points today
Rural areas need broadband more than
urban areas
The rural-urban digital divide is growing
Radical action is needed to reverse this
trend
By local communities, from the region to
the village
By national government, to change the
rules so rural broadband can work
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Rural areas need
broadband more
Improve access to resources
Leisure, work, health, education, security,
government
Reduce environmental costs
Avoid commuting and other journeys
Support the shift from physical to virtual
Make it easier to earn a living
Remote working for ordinary people
Create the economic foundation for viable
communities
3
Rural areas are falling behind
The gap is widening as bandwidth needs
increase
Superfast broadband is the new target
Greater distances and lower population densities
make it hard to finance
Our infrastructure index measures the gap
Takes the average of 6 speed-related indicators of
broadband coverage
Rural areas behind urban on every one
Rural scores 25%, urban 67% overall
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Rural is far behind on all
infrastructure measures
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And there isn’t
enough money
UK Infrastructure Index
by Local Authority (v12)
There is already a huge gap in the
quality of broadband infrastructure
between areas.
Unless there is significant public
intervention the gap will get worse.
The £530m provided by the
Spending Review is nowhere near
enough.
We need to rebalance investment
priorities in favour of broadband
.
Diagram shows Point Topic’s
Broadband Infrastructure Index
band for each local authority,
the darker the better.
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5 (42)
4 (131)
3 (126)
2 (100)
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(7)
Radical action is needed –
by communities
Local pride, enthusiasm and JFDI are
just the start
Only investment based on a working
business model will deliver a lasting
fit-for-purpose service
Go a step beyond the given Create the business case
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Creating the business case
Many different parties will benefit
Who will contribute to the cost?
Foundation customers? Environmental
funds? Developers and property owners?
Infrastructure builders?
The case for investment must be made
Good data is one requirement – here is
where Point Topic can help
But government needs to change the
rules so rural broadband can work
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Drilling down from the region to the village
to find the most left-behind areas
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Drilling down 1: Derbyshire Dales
has low take-up – 35.6%
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Drilling down 2: find and select
the lowest MSOA – 32.4% take-up
Drilling down 3: next, 003D is the
lowest take-up LSOA – 28.2%
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Drilling down 4: one COA is a total
notspot with zero broadband
Drilling down 5: demographic
make-up of the notspot COA
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Radical action is needed –
four tasks for government
1. Help the broadband business case to
leverage wider community benefits
2. Provide some investment certainty
So that investment now is not gazumped
by big players a few years ahead
A railway model - bidding for area
franchises to minimise gap funding?
3. Tackle the absurdities of the fibre tax
4. Legislate for information transparency
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Tim Johnson, Chief Analyst, Point Topic
[email protected]
020 3301 3303
www.point-topic.com
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