Print
Discuss
Send to friend
RSS feedsThe Government's broadband advisor has issued a report suggesting the the UK should adopt a cautious approach to the rollout of next-generation broadband technology.
In its new report, A Framework for Evaluating the Value of Next-Generation Broadband, the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) concludes that although super high-speed broadband will deliver economic benefits, "there are unlikely to be significant costs associated with delayed deployment and there may actually be significant value in waiting".
Nevertheless, the BSG warned that the UK will be at a significant disadvantage if the rollout of next-generation broadband were to be delayed by five to ten years.
The report notes that there is "limited opportunity" for delivering super-fast broadband using existing copper infrastructure. But given the current economic climate, the BSG also noted that telecoms providers may prefer to delay the deployment of optical fibre networks until the cost benefits of doing so are more apparent.
The BSG estimates that it will cost in the region of £16 bn for a UK-wide fibre rollout.
The BSG suggested that the costs of running a fibre network could be between 30 per cent and 50 per cent lower than running a copper-based network.
See also:
The University of Birmingham has built one of the biggest campus WLANs in the UK 09 Apr 2008
Land Securities to push next-gen broadband fibre links at Ebbsfleet housing project 06 Feb 2008
News that Google has developed low-cost optical switches raises questions about the future of 10GbE copper 10 Dec 2007
European Commission adopts new recommendations on the retail and wholesale comms market 14 Nov 2007
Wireless technology using freed-up radio spectrum courtesy of Ofcom could give fibre a run for its money 23 Oct 2007The billions being lavished on our armed forces would be better spent on installing fibre across the UK 16 Oct 2007All Network Infrastructure
del.icio.us
Digg this
reddit!
