universal gigabit access as a public service

The answer is deeply unfashionable: nationalisation. Instead of seeing basic connectivity as just another marketplace, we must look at it as we do roads. That means a state-funded organisation with one mission: universal gigabit access as a public service.

Putting the fibre back into Britain

Leader ZDNet UK

Published: 21 Mar 2007 16:10 GMT

• Network neutrality is a hot topic. With the internet now woven deeply into our lives, service providers should not have the ability to deny aspects of connectivity for commercial advantage. In general, the UK's regulators are relaxed about this; they say there's enough competition and freedom of choice to let the market control itself. That may largely be true, but there is one important exception — the link to consumer premises.(...)

• That upgrade has to happen. The physics of copper are being stretched to the limit. Many people are now stuck at a handful of megabits per second, the highest speed they're ever likely to get. That's not good enough: digital health provided at home is just one essential part of our future that will demand universal high-speed access, to say nothing of the enhanced environment needed to develop internationally competitive commercial services(...)

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