Updated: Timms hosts next generation broadband summit

Minister of State for Competitiveness, Stephen Timms, hosted a summit last week to discuss next-generation broadband access (NGA) and services with top level executives from the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), BT, Carphone Warehouse, Ofcom, Sky and Virgin Media.

Timms said that he was pleased that a general agreement was reached as the basis for a “vision statement” on the future of broadband. "It was a constructive and open discussion which anticipated the demand for reliably faster and more symmetrical broadband," he added.

BSG chief executive Antony Walker said, "This was very much a first airing of the complex issues involved with NGA, but there is an underlying tension here, concerned about the danger of a partial deployment of the technology deepening the digital divide."

On the day of the summit, Virgin Media announced its intention to deploy Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) 3.0 technology next year. DOCSIS 3 would give download speeds of 50Mbit/s and Virgin Media pledged to have 70 per cent of its customer base enabled by the end of 2008. Currently, Virgin Media access is possible in 52 per cent of UK households.

Virgin Media acting chief executive Neil Berkett said, "We'll never know exactly what demand there'll be for super-fast broadband until it's in people's homes and workplaces up and down the UK."

BSG’s Walker said that it was significant because it was a commercial deployment. "The other players may need to think how they respond,” he added. “It's a positive sign that there can be a market-led transition, which is what Ofcom and the industry wants."

Walker's comments were given added weight by statistics released by analyst company Point Topic, which showed download speeds in Western Europe increasing by six per cent to 5.6Mbit/s, while the Asia Pacific region speeds increased 39 per cent to 15Mbit/s and for South and East Asia, increased 132 percent to 3.6Mbit/s.

Ofcom says it intends to publish a statement on its policy approach next Spring, taking into account the opinions of the “wide cross-section of stakeholders”, including applications and service providers, consumer groups, business, central government and the devolved Authorities and local government and regional development agencies.

Read IT Week's view on the meetings

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