At a major keynote speech given this afternoon (Tuesday 27th January 2004)
at the Access to Broadband Campaign Conference hosted by Cisco Systems near
Heathrow Airport, Michael Fabricant (Shadow Minister for Economic Affairs)
highlighted a number of major issues:-
The Government has failed to address the broadband needs of the UK has a
whole - UK plc - and instead has concentrated on vested interests at the
expense of rural areas.
Because of failed Government regulation, dark fibres remain unlit. The
Government has a clear duty to ensure that our fibre optic infrastructure is
utilised so that high-speed broadband becomes common and cheap in the UK as
it is elsewhere.
The Government's definition of 'broadband' includes very low speeds which
results in customer dissatisfaction and discourages others from logging on.
Speeds under 512 Kbits/second should not be designated 'broadband' and we
should encourage high speeds over 2 Mbits/second to enable television over
the internet. Michael Fabricant has coined the phrase 'wide-band'.
Britain should be doing more to protect against attack on our computer
controlled infrastructure (electricity and gas supplies as well as defence
and national broadcast systems and others) by 'cyber-terrorists'. The
United States has begun to put protective measures in place. Our defences
remain limited.
Ofcom should be given the task of working with industry to promote
broadband. Britain has fallen behind in the numbers of individuals and
firms who actually use broadband services. Of com should be an enabler,
more than a regulator.
Britain must revisit the legislation introduced by the Government to
restrict Spam emails. Thanks to a major loophole in the law, Britain has
now over-taken India and is now in the top 10 countries in the world
originating Spam emails.
Temporary initiatives by the DTI are damaging the industry. Where
support and encouragement is given, it needs to be sustained.
Click here for the full text of the speech
