Did a short interview with BBC Radio Devon this morning as Chair of the Trinity Broadband Group - Not the finest moment, the schedule changed mid flow and the flavour of the story perhaps not as I had intended.

However, detailed are notes of my comments on the announcement this morning of the next stage in the implementation of the works associated with the BDUK funding of Rural Broadband in Devon and Somerset.

The upshot is that there are 'mixed messages', on one hand the wish to secure the best commercial solution, on the other to provide services to the rural communities.

By definition these communities, like Combpyne-Rousdon, are not commercially attractive to the private sector, which I understood was actually the reason for the BDUK funding in the first place (see BDUK Website and Connection Devon and Somerset Website ). but that was were we came in almost two years ago.

The end result is apparently simple although Keri Denton, in charge of the project for Devon County Council, on the same radio piece has insisted that the Rural Prices and Speeds will be the same as our urban equivalents.

I may be a bit simple, but I don't know how this can be achieved when the 'hard to reach' 15% are not scheduled to receive Superfast Broadband, rather a minimum of 2Mb until after 2015 at the earliest and the expensive satellite is seen as an option in terms of speed and costs to optical fibre...I hope I am wrong....but the jury is out!

What broadband speed do you get now?

Read full notes on interview below...

Lead in Presenter....description of the investment...

"Absolutely…..it is important none of us underestimate the crucial importance of this successful bid to the South West.

A Superfast broadband network is fundamental to both our future economic prosperity and quality of life….both rural and urban areas, homes and businesses alike …

The additional £100 million pounds of funding is committed to the ‘last third’ of our network, about 300,000 homes and business premises in Devon and Somerset. These are typically the rural areas which would not otherwise be commercially attractive to broadband providers, the ‘B’ roads, cart tracks and footpaths in the broadband network.

Two thirds of our premises would expect to receive Superfast Broadband from the private sector over the next three years. This £100Million investment will extend that figure to 85% by 2015, but I still concerned for the final 15% of properties. Superfast Broadband is not expected here until between 2015 and 2020 with a commitment by 2015 only for a minimum of 2Mb.

This will affect around 130,000 premises. To give you an idea that is similar to all the homes and businesses in East Devon, but spread across Devon and Somerset.

For those left behind, they will be left further adrift as the 85% served by Superfast Broadband, enjoy typical speeds of 40 to 100Mb and move further ahead.

It is important that the project team resist the temptation to further improve the service of those already well connected by subsidising areas where BT and other major providers would have delivered Superfast Broadband anyway, at the expense of a significant number of rural communities most in need.

I am really concerned that a minimum of 2Mb, set against a current UK average approaching 7Mb, will simply not be adequate to safeguard the future of these communities.  

Imagine in the future that broadband connections are used for our TV, and well as our telephone, and internet. It’s not actually the future, rather now when a rapidly increasing number of us watch TV and films online, a single online service will take the whole of a 2Mb bandwidth, so if the kids are watching TV online in these areas, then nothing else will be able to happen at the same time.

Keri Denton….Making sure service is as good in rural areas as urban areas - Rural Areas and Urban areas will enjoy the same speeds and the same costs...

I am absolutely delighted to hear that Kerri is committed to making sure that our rural broadband is as good as that provided to the urban areas, but I am not sure how this fits with the 15%, hard to reach properties cut further adrift as valuable public funding is focussed on areas which already have a decent broadband service, and would have received Superfast Broadband over the next three years anyway.

For rural communities which ‘miss out’ there is a real danger that their economy will further decline as urban services improve.

This could mean that valuable rural jobs could actually be lost, where rural businesses relocate to areas where Superfast Broadband services are available. Home working is restricted. New startups set up where the broadband service is better.

Crucially important to take up of the service is how much the service actually costs to the customer.

Any rural broadband must have open access to Internet Service Providers so that all customers have access to competitive national broadband offers.

Without this there is a real danger that a lack of competition means customers could be paying up to ten times as much for their broadband service as an urban customer.

Currently the only decent service available to Combpyne and Rousdon residents uses a satellite, ten times as expensive as comparable broadband offers, available just three miles down the road in Axminster, Lyme Regis or Seaton.

Would we expect the rural properties to pay ten times as much as urban areas for electricity or water, or road tax? – I think not, the rural economy simply cannot prosper in such an environment.

Rousdon is 25 miles from a major hospital, in any direction. We have a large number of ‘mature’ people, many living on their own.
Medical services, councils and other public bodies, including Devon County Council are looking to reduce costs by providing services online, yet the most expensive residents and businesses to reach are those in isolated rural areas, where these bodies could actually make the greatest savings through a good broadband service.

This alone means for me that hard to reach rural areas, like Rousdon, should be the top priority for better broadband with proper recognition of ‘need over numbers’.

Connecting Devon and Somerset have done a great job so far, but the hard work is still to come. At Trinity Broadband Group we are putting our full support behind them, to help deliver Superfast Broadband to all customers in our area.

I urge other villages and rural communities to get involved, join us, and do the same."

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