CEO’s update: The stage is set for 2013 to be a huge year for broadband

CEO’s update: The stage is set for 2013 to be a huge year for broadband

Hello and welcome to the new-look BSG website. This is the first of a series of monthly updates from me, giving the broadband community an overview of latest developments and trends in the industry whilst looking at those issues on the horizon for this year and beyond.

2013 is set to be a huge year for the broadband policy scene – how do we get fit for purpose infrastructure? What lessons can we learn from demand, take-up and usage? Where should the industry look for new opportunities on the operation and innovation of broadband-enabled services and an evolving regulatory environment? With the rollout of BDUK, 4G auction excitement, a forthcoming Communications White Paper, the weighing up of spectrum issues across the world and debates on universality and digital inclusion rumbling on, 2013 is set to be a big one.

 

And January has been no exception: Ofcom kicked off the 4G auction, minister Ed Vaizey MP spoke at the Oxford Media Convention on latest plans for the Communications White Paper (with shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman MP highlighting the dangers of missing broadband targets), and the continuing of the Lords Communications Committee on media convergence (with our Chair Richard Hooper giving evidence next week). Against this backdrop, a Policy Exchange report ‘The Superfast and the Furious’ called for an end to government subsidies for post-2015 broadband infrastructure and helping the 10.8 million people not online – the report is well worth a read and uses the evidence gathered in our influential 2008 report on the costs of deploying superfast broadband.

Watch this space for the launch of our 2013 programme very shortly, and do follow the new BSG twitter feed @BSG_team for latest updates, news and views.

The month ahead

February sees a busy month ahead, and our 2013 work programme will be well underway. I’ll be out and about speaking at a number of events, including a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology event on Broadband Britain on 12 February, a PICTFOR broadband breakfast with Parliamentarians on 5 February, and I’ll be chairing a session at the UK workshop of the Fibre to the Home conference on 19 February.