Marjorie Delwarde | pingwales | Wednesday, 13 July 2005
Issues related to devolution, regulation, geography and finance were addressed at a Welsh Consumer Council event held last week at Cardiff City Hall. The workshop discussing the communications agenda for Wales engaged key stakeholders in a lively debate on how to deliver the benefits of new technology to their Welsh consumers.
‘The Communications Agenda for Wales: Delivering the benefits for all' workshop was chaired by John Wilson, consultant and member of the Broadband Stakeholder Group. The expert panel comprised Michael Eaton, director of Broadband Wales, Welsh Assembly Government, Rhodri Williams, director of Ofcom Wales, Charles Bass, chair of the Wales Broadband Stakeholder Group, and Dr Nich Pearson, director of the Welsh Consumer Council.
Wilson kicked off the debate with an introduction to the situation in Wales in terms of regulation, infrastructure and digital divide. As Cardiff has recently been chosen as BT's UK pilot city for the rollout of its new IP-based 21st Century Network, the question of Wales' communications agenda has never been so critical.
According to Wilson, the challenge is to converge policy agendas. Technology is there but it needs bridges and people to join things up. He also shared his vision of a gigabit Wales in 2015, before inviting Michael Eaton to speak.
Eaton began by pointing out a few misconceptions regarding ICT and broadband. According to him, ICT is there to support other things happening, such as to improve people's lifestyle, business opportunities and public services. As for broadband, he expressed his great surprise at the way the industry is marketing this technology.
He commented, "For whatever reason, the industry (BT, NTL, Freeserve) is still fixated by ‘you can get high-speed internet'. I actually find it very bizarre as a marketer because it doesn't point out any benefits that you're going to get as a consumer as a result of using this technology."
He also stated that finance was a crucial issue. "What we are trying to do is to get out of the way. For me, success is not having my team exist. We only exist because the market place doesn't seem to be delivering what the citizens and businesses in Wales want naturally and this is because of finance and historically it had to do with regulatory behaviour and the predecessors to Ofcom," he explained.
He concluded that the marketplace has to educate consumers, though he admitted this takes time. As technology is moving faster and faster, it is difficult for anyone to come to terms with it. However he stressed that there is no point assuming that just because we like broadband, the rest of the world likes it too.
Rhodri Williams followed with a presentation of Ofcom and its role as a regulator in Wales, modelled on the US regulatory body Federal Communications Commission. Ofcom consults widely with stakeholders and carries out extensive market research while trying to maintain a light-touch approach to regulation. Since its inception in 2003, the UK regulator has published findings of its reviews into public service broadcasting, the telecommunications industry and spectrum liberalisation and trading. (...)
Then it was Charles Bass' turn to introduce the Wales Broadband Stakeholder Group and its role in contributing to the Welsh broadband strategy. He highlighted a growing trend which sees consumers becoming increasingly demanding and questioned whether Welsh businesses would keep pace with national and international competition as consumers increasingly opt for service reliability over regional loyalty.
Bass also remarked that he spends 40 per cent of his time travelling by car between North and South Wales, and has found that he lacks mobile coverage in the middle of Denbigh, at St Asaph and on the A55. He criticised the Welsh Assembly Government for using the term 'ubiquitous coverage' when in fact it means 'selective coverage' at best. He rebuked the government for focusing more on the macroeconomic environment, notably along the M4 corridor, than the microeconomic environment found in rural areas.
Nich Pearson closed the debate. He cast a pessimistic view of the Welsh communications industry, declaring that Wales suffers from weak and inappropriate regulation. Not only is mobile coverage in Wales extremely poor, said Pearson, but even basic services like mobile phone and television reception present a problem in rural areas in Wales.
He said: "We have a history of problems with TV signals with conventional aerials. We have problems with digital freeview reception in Newport. We have the problem with the slow roll-out of cable services in certain areas." The geographical issue in particular left him perplexed. Even in the Portuguese mountains he was able to have full mobile coverage, so why not in Wales?
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