EU fibre roll-out too slow

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Read more! Whilst some countries are achieving the targets hoped for in Europe for fibre rollout, others are failing. And three are failing abysmally. We (UK) are one of them.

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



The final plenary made it clear how important it is for the EU countries to work together to create a single market for digital content, and fibre is the only way to achieve this. 100Mbps was dissed as a very low bar throughout the conference and the final plenary was no exception.

For those who still think a USC of 2Mbps is sufficient, and who cannot see why or how better connectivity is required and can be achieved, well, where the hell were you?!

The FTTH showcase highlighted some of the applications and services that cannot function without high bandwidth, low latency, QOS, etc. My knowledge of French poetry is now much improved thanks to the showcase, and the video application for teaching any subject across multiple communities and countries was more than enough to spark debates around the screen of the very many (limitless?) purposes to which such a service could be applied.

The healthcare apps seem to be old hat to many, especially the Dutch who seem to have telehealth nailed, and it continues to strike me as desperately sad that I couldn't find a single UK representative who actually had a personal interest in telehealth solutions, or whose job was in that sector. So, no doubt no-one will be reporting back to the NHS and we will continue to believe we have a Health Service that is the envy of the world. The truth is we are now a long way behind other countries, especially our nearest neighbours and also including those we would consider to be under developed or third world.

Wales seemed to be getting a great bit of press from the Dutch who are very pleased that the "Dutch model" has been adopted. (I presume that is Kees and Nuenen!). So, expect the Welsh valleys to become the new northern European tourist destination for anyone accustomed to FTTH at home.....;o)

Being the underdogs doesn't sit well with some nations, and it was fascinating to hear from some of the German vendors about both their product sets (extensive) and ambitions (more so). Ditto the Spanish companies like Key Fibre. Both nations have a certain level of respect that seemed to bring leads to their booths. The British companies also command a deal of respect; however, the British (government and incumbents) approach to FTTH does not lend itself to good PR for the UK. In fact, I got rather bored of the sympathy for Britain, as well as yet further ashamed.

It's pretty bloody simple really. We either start rolling out FTTH this year to every home, or we admit our failure and make concerted efforts to attract foreign investment in the FTTH landgrab. Even those projects and initiatives which are deemed to be exemplar within the UK are pretty goddamned pathetic compared to ...pick a country.....Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Holland, Russia, Ukraine, etc etc etc. Urban or rural, the UK is so far off the game as to be laughable.

And if you still think we are doing just fine with fibre, then I urge you to visit countries like Andorra, or the eastern Bloc, where FTTH infrastructure is now commonplace and what is happening now is the growth of GDP, innovative economic development, and a setting of the course required to compete in a global economy that we seem to have failed to comprehend nor engage in.

Great conference, as ever. Munich next year on Feb 29th/March 1st. It is 7 years since I started attending this conference, and I would hope next year there is, finally, a UK contingent who will report back to their various sectors - housing, planning, NHS, education, public sector, manufacturing, telecoms - about why and how we need to take our fingers out of both our butts and ears and JFDI before it really is too late.

(Oh, and if you think I am being harsh, you should have heard what other nationalities were saying about the UK, BT, the British government etc and FTTH.)






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Go Cataluña!!!

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Read more! Some years ago, I spoke about rural broadband at a conference in Callus, near Manresa. In Spanish. Over the following days, I proceeded to try to learn Catalan, whilst speaking a bizarre mixture of Spanish, French, Italian, English and Catalan with my multi-lingual guides who showed me round the region. And then today, I read an article about Manresa and Callus....and cheered!!

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



It is difficult to explain what happens on trips like this. This was the second conference where I had been asked to fly out and speak about broadband in Spanish. And then come home. (The other time was Santa Cruz in Bolivia where I refused point blank to come straight home after giving a 30 minute speech! But that is a whole other story).

I had passed through Cataluña many times before when living in Andalucia, but the trip to Manresa, Callus and then Girona, Figueres and Cadaques (Dali land) started a lifelong romance, I suspect. Not just the scenery but the people and the innovation. Plus the fact that the Catalans know how to stick two fingers up at Brussels (or Madrid) to get what their citizens need, not what some faceless bureaucrat thinks the box tickers require.

Callus had BIG plans. There was already a wifi network based from the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall), but the alcalde (Mayor) took me under his wing - especially when we discovered Callus and Lindsey had both ropemaking and railways in common - and I heard more inspiring plans than I could possibly have expected from this man and his community. They went like this:

Fibre up the railway line, which used to transport the salt from Cardona Mines, turn the mine into a tourist attraction. Link in an industrial estate up the road, which would double up to create present and future employment for teenagers as website designers and multimedia whizzes. The kids would spend summer doing websites, etc for the businesses in the business park, and winter as ski instructors, learning a variety of people skills as well as video techniques for one on one ski lessons.

I recall there was a waiting list at the secondary school because parents were moving their families and businesses to be on the end of a fibre connection. Even I was tempted to go back to school! The tunnels on the railway line were no issue for wireless connectivity as they had trialled leaky coax and found it worked just fine. So, now I think of it, this was a classic example of FiWi.

Anyway, Callus has little in the way of accommodation, so I stayed in Manresa. And this is the point of the blog post. These guys have built an open access FTTH network, because the Generalitat de Cataluña have vision. And the first to come along is Orange with a triple play FTTH bundle that sort of defies belief.

For those who don't speak Spanish: 50Mbps symmetrical, all landline calls free, wifi router, HDTV decoder plus 60 channels (bear in mind they don't have Freeview), a mobile package, and the all important Barca or Real Madrid matches, for €44.95 a month. That's £40.

The technical details of the project in Viladecans show that there is a cost of €768,324 to pass 2358 homes and businesses. Which is €326 per HP (Homes Passed). No mention, obviously of any fibre tax as the Catalans aren't as moronic as our Government. They get IT and they know how to make IT happen.

The best bit was finding this article about Xarxa Oberta (Open Network). Yes! Callus has been included in the Digital Territory project and is getting its FTTH network. There are approx 1500-1600 people in Callus as I recall. Interesting that their Government sees that as viable (In fact, every urbanisation over 50 houses is getting at least Wimax) and ours hasn't got their heads round it yet. (Except in Cumbria, of course!)

Even so, I think I'll pack.....let's toss a coin...Chattanooga or Callus?!




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The Spanish join the party

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Read more! The Spanish government have joined Finland in making a minimum speed of broadband a LEGAL RIGHT.

From 1st January 2011, every Spaniard will have the right to a minimum speed of 1Mbps, announced the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Commerce at the 3rd Digital Content International Conference. Finland's law takes effect from July 2010, and in 2015 will increase to 100Mbps as LAW.

Spain may have some difficulties implementing this new law because of the topology, and will undoubtedly have to resort to wireless in some of the most remote and mountainous regions. However, having seen a few FiWi projects in Cataluña, they have plenty of in-house expertise to do so. The announcement is backed by 100million euros of public money, which will then release a further 300million euros.

Once again, we are not leading the way in any sense, and are actually falling behind other European countries by removing the legal rights of our citizens in moving from USO to USC.
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