Lies and more lies? OTU report p 95-6

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Now here's a fact that hasn't been reported widely yet, Britain came 10th for broadband in a fantastically interesting global report about ICT and broadband.....And then you spot the utter lie in the middle of the report and realise Britain's position is complete tosh propagated by god knows who, nor for what purpose, as it simply shows us as liars.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com



The ITU "Measuring the Information Society" report came out a week ago, and you'd think the Brits would be celebrating, but it seems to have fallen under the radar a little.

Hardly surprising when on p.95-6 comes an outright lie about broadband in Britain which can only have skewed all the results for the UK. Whoever is responsible for feeding such untruths to OECD (from whom the data appears to have been supplied to ITU) deserves never ending sleepless nights and karmic payback on a level approaching bankers' bonuses.

"While in 2010, Germany and UK had similar fixed-broadband penetration rates, 59 per cent of the United Kingdom's were above 10Mbit/s, compared with only 30% per cent in Germany. Indeed, in the United Kingdom, 99% of all subscriptions are above 2Mbps"

Really - says who??????? What good does it do this nation to hide the truth of our broadband situation?

So, of the 79.6% of households connected to the Internet in UK (Annex 4), only 20% are sub-10Mbps? Jeremy, it seems you may need to rethink where that £530M has gone, mate.

I hope ITU (and/or) OECD may be willing to share the information about just who provided the figures for UK. If it proves to be Ofcom, our regulator's integrity and interests will once more come into question. If A N Other Body, such as an incumbent, then there have to be questions asked about why such "falsehoods" are permitted on behalf of an entire country to a respected global reporting body such as ITU.

One to look into more deeply. There are plenty of journalists out there who can get to the bottom of stories such as the phone hacking scandal so this should be a doddle.....

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Ofcom broadband speed tests

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Read more! Once again, we have an Ofcom report about broadband speeds to peruse.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com



Samknows has run tests in 1767 homes to create the data upon which this report is based. I know that when the original data set and map was published a couple of years ago, I queried the lack of properties whose lines were being tested in rural areas. This resulted in us being sent the grand total of 5 routers to scatter around the countryside, presumably to balance it out and shut up the rural contingent. Hohum.

It would be good to see the geographic locations of the test sites to grasp whether or not this is (still) a skewed picture of UK broadband speeds by being heavily reliant on urban and short lines.

For instance, if we were to place a similar number of routers into mainly rural homes, and ran 455million performance tests, in particular from 4pm -6pm when the kids come home from school and not from 8-10pm when they should be tucked up in bed, what effect would that have on these results?

It does not take a genius to work out that the national picture would most likely be nowhere near as rosy as this report makes out. Terms such as 'surge', 'boost, and 'superfast' are somewhat misleading to say the least but no doubt the journos will make out all is well in the press over the coming days.....

There has seemingly been a 10% rise in average download speeds from 6Mbps to 6.6Mbps, which should I guess be applauded, even if the symmetry is still missing for upload. The difference between advertised and actual speeds remains alarmingly high. Especially for uninformed consumers who believe what the ads say, and have no way of knowing otherwise until an order is placed and a connection is made. Or not, as the case too frequently is.

The report appears to suffer from creative mathematics, which is never good, except perhaps for those who find that copying and pasting the report without applying even minimal logic makes for good copy. Viz

Superfast broadband services are now available to more than half of UK homes as rollout continues.

Today’s research found that superfast services offer significantly faster speeds than copper ADSL broadband

However, over 75 per cent of UK residential broadband connections are currently delivered by copper ADSL telephone lines.

Superfast >50% homes. Superfast does not equal ADSL. ADSL >75% homes. Spot the problem?!

And as for this sentence:

Download speed is the main performance measure by which broadband services are advertised and is the most important single measure in determining broadband performance.

It leaves me completely speechless. The regulator is really saying this???

At least 25% of those on ADSL are on 4Mbps or below according to this report, although one would suspect that this is a finger in the air figure as BT etc still seem to believe that the so-called commercial sensitivity of line data should come before national interest. That Final Third is supposed to be being addressed by BDUK and local authorities, but there seems to be a distinct lack of vision in doing so even with the plethora of experts this country has available to discuss the topic at the never-ending round of 'talking head' conferences. However, time will tell whether local authorities etc can turn it around and apply common sense (to bypass the hype and spin and guff they are being fed by self-interested parties) to deploy what is actually required in each region.

Meanwhile, NZ are reporting that data usage has increased by a third in the last year, and there is plenty of hard evidence from elsewhere with true next generation broadband connectivity that data usage goes through the roof when you give people quality connections of 100Mbps and above - what the rest of the world calls 'superfast'. Perhaps, Ofcom should start thinking about data caps and how, as Britain gets better broadband, the regulator is going to do something about those so users are not continuously being throttled and prevented from actually using the connectivity they have?
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And the bottleneck is where?

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Read more! If you read Jeremy's speech and the report, issued today but which ruined many of our Sundays in the community broadband world, you'd think the bottleneck was in the first mile. Especially financially.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com



The truth is though that any DVP (Digital Village Pump) can be gigabit to the home, as Ashby de la Launde has proven. The bottleneck is in the middle mile/backhaul. Worse still are the bottlenecks in the longhaul/core network which is now struggling and due to struggle ever more as we all get more thirsty for gigabuckets of bandwidth. And most of us can't even afford a decent backhaul out of our communities (i.e from our DVPs to t'interweb) because of so-called "market forces" setting prices few can afford to buy at.

So, if you put a 'digital hub' (our renamed DVPs) in to, say, a BT street cab, you've just put yourself into the prime position of facing an instant bottleneck.

If the Government, councils etc cannot work out that chucking money at BT to cause this problem is an immoral waste, they don't deserve their jobs.
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Essential reading on fibre tax in Scotland

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Read more! Three cheers for Scotland. The Digital Scotland report puts in plain English (is that a misnomer?) the case for derating fibre and returning telecoms buildings to standard business rates, amongst other equally logical solutions which will lead to the right endgame.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com



There are times when you really wonder why any of us do all of this. After all, there are a number of us who don't want to own, run or even have anything to do with networks - we just want fibre through our window frames!!

The ups and downs over the last 10-15 years have been particularly trying. However, there are days when you think there is a light at the end of the tunnel and today is one of them.

With many thanks to Pauline Rigby for the heads up that it might be worth reading, in detail, the Digital Scotland report, I have now found the three pages which have stuck a rainbow in my office for the day. pp 57-59.

For more detail, you can read this blog post on Computer Weekly.

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UK open FTTH is a no-brainer

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Read more! Of course, when all of us grassroots people say it, over and over again, it gets no media coverage, but now an OECD report by James Enck has been published proving our point, so you never know - someone in government may listen. Don't hold your breath though.....

No, honestly, don't! The arguments are logical, sensible, economically sound, and include social capital gains... they have no chance of being accepted ;o)

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Rural broadband is economically sound

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Read more! Fact.....

Benoit has just blogged about this USDA document on the economics of rural broadband and its impact on rural areas.

The evidence that broadband into rural areas has a substantial economic impact has been coming thick and fast for years, but it seems it is only now that it is hitting the news agenda. What is also slowly emerging is the impact that FTTH has on rural communities, but more of that later.

As highly respected economist Michael Curri puts it:

Infrastructure investment provides a healthy return in its own right - even for relatively small and rural communities. Broadband infrastructure construction has job impacts immediately in the local economy like typical shovel-ready investments. More significantly, it increases drastically the retention and expansion of businesses and organizations.

The positive effects from broadband infrastructure become even more important in times of economic uncertainty, especially for smaller, rural communities who often have less economic diversity and resilience to withstand the effects of an economic slowdown. The availability of broadband gives enterprises, in smaller or rural communities, the options to expand their market reach and thereby becoming more efficient during difficult economic times. Individuals can use broadband find new opportunities, including supplemental education and skills training, out-of-region employment through tele-working (working from home), and business start-ups.

Need more evidence or should we just pick up our shovels?!
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Ofcom report on UK broadband speeds

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Read more! Thanks to a partnership with Samknows, the report on the recent survey of UK broadband speeds by Ofcom is now available.

It makes for disheartening reading. Sadly, for me, there is a big white blank spot across the north of England rural areas (Cumbria, the Yorkshire Dales, Teesdale, Weardale, Lancashire etc). Ditto in Scotland. We know from first hand experience that the broadband in these areas is, in many cases, truly appalling, yet there are no survey respondents in those areas. This means that the overall results are going to be skewed upwards from acuality - a shame. However, perhaps, even weighted as the results will inevitably be now and in 6 months time, the information is out there. Perhaps it will bring 'up to speed' those who have believed that UK internet consumers are happy with their lot, and accelerate the drive towards FTTH.

27% of the country gets 2Mbps or less. And 20% of those on an 'up to 8Mbps service actually receive less than 2Mbps (we have been saying this for a very long time - it is nice to have hard data to support our claim).

77% and 60% respectively are dissatisfied with their internet usage for audio and video. (One suspects that the 60% is lower because most of us can't even consider trying to download a film!)

Rural consumers receive, on average, speeds 13% slower than their urban counterparts. (And this without that large swathe of rural northern England).

There is much more info of valuable reading. take time out today to ingest this material and promote FTTH on the back of it. The link again is here.


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FTTH Community Guide

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Read more! I should be promoting my own book but this new FTTH Community Guide may be of more interest to readers of this blog!

Although it is deeply Americanised, much of what is covered in this guide bears relevance to those looking to develop community FTTH in Europe. Obviously, the lack of a co-operative or mutual model within the case studies is a shame; however, each municipality seems to be seeing a ROI which undoubtedly has a positive effect on the communities' coffers.

ECFibernet is also worth keeping an eye on to see how the sustainability and profitability to rural areas pans out. Although the legal issues may be different in the US, the economics for rural areas in pretty much any area of the EU are similar.

Definitely a report worth perusing....
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BSG Report on fibre costs in the UK

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Read more! The BSG report on the costs of fibre deployment has been published.

More light reading for the weekend!
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FTTC and first mile theory

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Read more! Ofcom have published some research by Sagentia of an assessment of the theoretical limits of copper in the first mile.



Ofcom state in the report, "We found that if the DSL transmission system is hosted in the exchange, households within 2km of the exchange (approximately 18% of the total number of households) could, in theory, receive data rates above 50Mbit/s. If the DSL transmission system is moved closer to the customer premises and into the street cabinet, then almost 100% of households are within 2km of the street cabinet and could, theoretically, expect a data rate of 50Mbit/s."

Now, much of this is substantially theoretical, and not necessarily technically or economically feasible, or practical. And it raises the questions about who is planning to FTTC? And what regulatory environment would then be required for competition in the first mile, sub-loop unbundling etc?

As an aside, the idea of "worst is first" to work on eliminating the digital divide (particularly in rural areas) should not just be the preference of the regulator, but should also start to be enforced through regulation asap, as per Ashley Highfield and others' comments at the BSG event.
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Bandwidth for Businesses

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Read more! After the disappointing (read: irritating as hell!) DBERR comments at the BSG conference that there was no indication that UK businesses require more bandwidth, this CMA report about business bandwidth requirements makes interesting reading!
Although many of the members are large corporates, which shows in the figures using fibre for comms currently, the number who are only able to get under 2Mbps is telling, as are the figures about latent demand within those surveyed. As the Telco 2.0 report from the BSG conference points out, there is currently no SOHO FTTH access yet in the UK, and yet there are hundreds of thousands of small businesses.
What may be used (and has been) against providing this decent first mile onwards connectivity, is the unwillingness for those surveyed to pay extra for FTTP connectivity. And that should come as no surprise. Many of those who responded are undoubtedly already being screwed for their comms requirements (especially if they live in Hull) by somewhat greedy telcos. But the real point that should be used against this is that there is as yet no proof that FTTH/P SHOULD cost more than current telco products. In fact, much of the evidence is beginning to point to the fact that such massive opex savings will be made once fibre is deployed throughout the whole of the UK comms infrastructure, that we may well see a drop in tariffs, but only if there is a truly competitive marketplace.
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netherlands Overview of FTTx

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Read more! Research and markets has published a report giving an overview of Netherlands FTTx developments.

The most interesting point to me is that of the independent competition /open (community) networks needing to aggregate in order to become interesting to service providers etc. This is the same issue we are likely to face in the UK, and one which needs resolving - creation of a commodity exchange or similar? Read more!

How good is UK broadband today?

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Read more! Samknows will beat Ofcom to conducting the most comprehensive review of broadband in the UK, and has already put out the first report. Available hereInteresting results, need to consider some of what is revealed here before posting more, would welcome comments. Initial reaction though is about the fact that Samknows (not an over-funded Government agency) has found a way to overcome the problems caused by many speedtests which are whitelisted by the ISPs to 'falsify' the results, using hardware run by consumers, and hence this report makes for far more interesting reading than the majority of reports about UK broadband speed. Well done, Sam!! Read more!

UK - bottom of the league

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Read more! Is the UK actually mentioned in this article about national FTTH deployment?

Oh no, because we don't have a national strategy yet. HOW FAR BEHIND DO WE HAVE TO GET? Read more!

Consumers' needs vs incumbents' greed?

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Read more! This week's report from WIK showing that the business case for NGA favours the incumbents is worrying on a number of levels.
Firstly, the assumption that the only reason for NGA is an economic (read: profitable?) one. Secondly, that this level of document is precisely the type of report that politicians read and believe is the 'ultimate truth' and hence act on it, and thirdly that once again, the social/economic benefits of NGA are being almost swept under the carpet from a consumer point of view. This despite it being made clear through other research that the best networks are those owned and run by communities, rather than incumbents.

There are several questions which seem to suddenly keep re-appearing in the FTTH blog world, as well as at conferences.

Are national networks essential ie should FTTH be considered the fourth utility?
Or conversely, should we let many flowers bloom on a smaller scale community-run basis? If there is no answer known to this question, because of the many different regional, geographic, fiscaL, etc etc factors which make it difficult to assess whether one specific solution will work in a different place, then should we stymie development and innovation by insisting on a national network run by the incumbents?

After all, for many of us it is hard to believe that the incumbents have so far actually done a good job, so why let the problem continue by encouraging them into a next generation monopoly?

Another question in the blogosphere discussions appears to be about the economies of scale. FTTH build and deploy has dropped so much in capex over the last few years that arguing that only the incumbents can benefit from economies of scale appears to me to be looking at the whole issue of who should be benefiting from entirely the wrong angle. There is no reason for the telcos not to benefit from FTTH, and they will of course any way, but the actual cost (socio-economic as well as the damned frustration factor) for the consumers always seems to be omitted from the equation.

Of course, we would love it if the networks are built in the most cost-efficient manner possible, but not having a reasonable method of communication in the meantime is just not on. The hard evidence/facts about how much the failure to deploy FTTH is actually costing Europe, UK or individuals seems almost impossible to quantify.

After all, how can I tell you even what it would be worth to ME to have infiniband type broadband connectivity as I can't even begin to imagine what it would finally allow me to do? Times that by 60million inhabitants of Britain, the number of businesses, schools, GP surgeries, hospitals, etc and tell me in all honesty that it is still worth sitting on our hands for longer? Or worse, allowing the incumbents to force us into doing so....

But it should be taken as read that it is costing one helluva lot to the GDPs of UK Plc and other nations, and to small businesses, families, individuals, education, health etc etc etc being unable to communicate efficiently. Probably far more if everyone was honest, than the potential cost savings of 'economies of scale'.

Another question which seems to be reverberating round the blogs is about Vivien Reding and whose side is she really on with this week's announcements about encouraging the incumbents into action with a 15% risk return. This would seem to force the hand of politicians, policy and regulation into the pockets of the incumbents, although perhaps the whole recommendation could be read to apply equally to new entrants - one would dearly hope so from this pro-competition EU regulatory body.

With no answers to these questions seemingly out there yet, although many discussions seem to be going on behind closed doors and in blogs about where FTTH is going, one feels, as a consumer, that action is required rather than hot air, moans about lack of factual evidence, a business case etc. The facts are that many of us as small businesses, families, individuals, citizens and consumers are getting fed up with the entirely unnecessary hold ups, and hope that some new entrants take the bull by the horns and just get on with it.

A pilot project here in rural Cumbria should of course be first!! If it can succeed here, it can succeed anywhere in the EU. The mole plough is ready and waiting for you.....
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