Is the old boys' club choking Britain's broadband?

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 12 Feb 2009 at 17:47

Carter's preliminary Digital Britain report, published in January, includes a new Universal Service Commitment that will obligate the entire industry to fund nationwide broadband access.

Incestuous industry

If the Government, Ofcom, the BSG and BT all appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet, that might be because the members of the choir know each other so well.

The current CEO of Ofcom, Ed Richards, was initially appointed to the Ofcom board during Stephen Carter's reign and was formerly an advisor to Gordon Brown. Two of the other nine Ofcom board members used to work for BT (one for 25 years) and will take pensions from the company.

BSG chairman Kip Meek, meanwhile, not only worked with both Carter and Richards at Ofcom, but also had a stint at BT. The BSG Executive includes a representative from BT, one from Ofcom, and three from government departments - leading to the rather bizarre situation of government workers helping to shape policy for the "Government's leading advisory group on broadband". The phrase "conflict of interest" doesn't even begin to do it justice.

Francesco Caio and Kip Meek might well be right: there may not be a strong argument for the Government to pump money into subsidising a nationwide fibre network. But can the British public have confidence that the people who are shaping Britain's broadband have their minds open to all the alternatives?

"We're still listening to the same rhetoric as we were 18 months ago on NGA," said one industry insider, who asked not to be named.

"Perhaps it's time for some fresh thinking from someone who isn't tied to the old boys' network."

The BSG claims the Government and Ofcom representatives on its Executive are merely "observers". "In terms of Kip's role - there's always a balance where you need to have people who are well versed with the issues, who have got the experience and credibility to operate at a very senior level, and that tends to mean you get people coming out of the industry, the regulator and so on," said Anthony Walker, CEO of the BSG.

Ofcom's dissenting ranks

So who is looking out for the people at the end of the broadband lines? An unlikely source of dissent was, at least until recently, the Ofcom Consumer Panel - "the independent, policy advisory body on consumer interests in telecommunications". Although considering the chair of the Consumer Panel is appointed by Ofcom, it's questionable just how independent it really is.

Nevertheless, the Panel did at least seem to find its teeth under the leadership of Colette Bowe. She called for a new broadband code of practice, and one of her most striking recommendations was that customers be allowed to cancel their contract with their ISP if their actual line speed was "significantly lower" than the package they bought.

By the time her proposals had been turned into Ofcom's new voluntary Code of Practice, her recommendations had been watered down, with ISPs merely required to move consumers on to lower-speed packages if one is available.