Europe 2020 Project Bonds consultation announced

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Read more! It had to come, using bonds to fund the major infrastructure projects that the EU will need over the coming years.

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



The announcement of the consultation is here.

I've been involved in quite a few discussions about this type of infrastructure funding recently, so it will be interesting to see the results of the consult. There is definitely an appetite for more imaginative use of financial vehicles to get the EU back in the fast lane.

Meanwhile, for those with their eyes on smaller scale solutions to funding infrastructure, there is a Cumbria Social Enterprise Partnership event on 16th March in Kendal for anyone wishing to know about community share issue.
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Comments on Cornwall

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It seems that the latest (supposedly) super-fast broadband tender has caused a huge furore. If you want to comment (named or anonymously) come and have your say, and join the throng. Are you a resident of Cornwall? How do you feel about the process and result? Are you a supplier in the South West? Are you a business in the Digital Peninsula? Were you involved in the tender process? Come and have your say on 5tth....

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

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Oh, next week should be fun! I am trying to get hold of Kevin Lavery (ex-BT and now CEO of Cornwall Council - interestingly, or oddly, based in York according to LinkedIn).

If you have a question you would like to put to him, please add to the comments - you can post anonymously. This is not going to go away so....as I said previously....other areas, beware.
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FTTH Handbook

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Read more! Getting a bit confused about all the new developments? Trying to build a FTTH network for your village, hamlet, community, region, town, country and don't know where to start?

The Third Edition of the FTTH Council EU FTTH Guide should be your first port of call to gen up on all things FTTH.

There will be a short test on Monday. Have a good weekend!
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4 snippets of JFDI FTTH news items this week

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Read more! As it is all the trend to write lists, here is a list of FTTH news items for y'all...

1. COTS Meeting - for all those who missed the first meeting, for whatever reason, the date of the next meeting is Sept 3rd, 1.30 intro for 2 - 4pm start. Make a note in your diary right now. And, good news, it's oop north, in Hull City Council Chamber, thanks to Hull City Council and Fibrestream. The agenda will be finalised tomorrow and released here as well as on the BSG site. Watch this space for booking info - places are limited. However, the event will be webcast and we expect all remote participants to engage through the backchannel on Twitter!

2. FTTH Colloquium - we have been promising a Colloquium for some time on this topic and there is now so much going on, it just has to be done. So, Sept 3rd, 9-9.30 for 10am start. Also in Hull, so you can walk through City Hall to the COTS meeting in the afternoon after partaking of a buffet lunch kindly laid on by Hull City Council.

The Colloquium is really important because whilst standards are being drawn up through COTS, and the Digital Britain Implementaiton plan is out there, many communities and grassroots activists are already out there digging, or planning to start (and finish, long before 2017!). The Colloquium will, with NextGenUs, provide suppliers, councils, community leaders, community champions, rural activists, small businesses, and other interested parties, with the opportunity to get together, discuss ongoing and foreseen problems, find solutions, see demos of equipment, share ideas, and feed information from grassroots and community broadband networks to the COTS meeting in the afternoon.

This is a talking shop, hence the name "colloquium" and is a perfect opportunity to get your community, local or parish council, products, backhaul solutions, and so on into the next gen access eNdGAme. There will be help and advice on funding, business models, sustainability, technical solutions, FiWi, community engagement, mapping, as well a chance to dispel some of the myths about FTTH costs and so on through the experiences of some of those present who have been there, JFDI and got the tshirt.

Once again, spaces are limited, and we always try to have the perfect mix of community/consumer, public sector and industry, so we strongly advise you to book your place early. The booking form will be available later in the week.

3) RNLI Big Dig - yes, as promised, it has all started. Thanks to many who have pledged and then delivered support, the fibre ducting is now all being laid and the fibre will be blown soon. You need to watch the videos....especially this one which now has had over 8000 views ...

4) And more internationally, the EU are looking beyond i2010 and are seeking views on where the Digital Europe strategy should be going. Your chance to have your say on what we require. You don't need to answer all questions in the survey, just those of interest to you so go to it!

More tomorrow....

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Congrats to SWBB

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Read more! Hooray! South Witham Broadband have won a medal in the e-inclusion awards for geographic inclusion for their fab community network in Lincolnshire.

Having represented them in Brussels, and followed their progress since the very early days (and written a book about them!), I would like to be the first to congratulate them on achieving such recognition at EU level.

This network has done more than just learn the lessons that should be taken on board by ANYONE planning a next gen network. It has also applied them so that it actually connects with its customers and the community it serves. SWBB is a first class example of best practice, of engaging your community, of sustainability, how to connect the 'ethnic minority' of the disconnecteds, and of how those who live and work within a community can create a co-operative solution to next generation communications.

It is unfortunate that the organisation who should be advising on these issues is now just a group of consultants, out of touch with real community networks, but for those who need to understand the solution, why not get in touch with SWBB and employ them to answer your questions and show you how it can be done?


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FiWi advances in EU

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Read more! The EU have got behind a proposal to use the digital dividend for wireless and mobile broadband.

I spoke in support of this particular use of the spectrum in January last year at the Oxford Media Convention. The panel was made up of those proposing the use by HDTV (BBC and DigiTv), mobile TV (O2) and wireless broadband, in particular for rural areas (me).

It is heartening to see, after how the panel went - it was a tough debate for my cause! that the EU have now supported this proposal. I am not claiming full credit for it, by any means, but it is rather an obvious choice for best use, rather than using the spectrum for TV services which are already amply provided for in other frequencies.

I must dig out the technical information I had acquired beforehand from those who know about TV broadcast spectrum and its limitations, and perhaps repeat the arguments here now they are so timely. That information meant I could argue the case about the feasibility of it on the panel, although there were some in question time who queried some of my assumptions and took me beyond my technical know how. That debate would be interesting to start again now...and verify the whys and wherefores of feasibility.

Not sure about the Wimax bit though.....there are proven techs that may prove more capable.
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Hermes, CUT, and a history lesson

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Read more! Just read the latest post from the Hermes Project about Caio, rural FTTH, and prices. Reminded me of something.........

The Access to Broadband Campaign (ABC), of which I was one of the 4 co-founders back in the very early Noughties, came into being after a series of BSG meetings. In those days, there were 3 of us who regularly attended at our own expense on behalf of consumers and communities.

- Erol Ziya (formerly of CUT)
- John Wilson (Arwain and involved with many in the wireless world)
- Myself. (Rural broadband campaigner and broadband event organiser)

This was way back when the BSG started in autumn 2000/ spring 2001 (as I recall), before all and sundry jumped on the broadband bandwagon to make themselves a living.

By then, all 3 of us had been campaigning individually for different consumer/community sectors for several years. Debriefings in cafes around Russell Square after these BSG meetings, where the consumer/community voices had been fighting to be heard or understood, led to setting up ABC so that everyone could hear from ALL the stakeholders and engage in the debates.

I sort of digress. ABC was fairly active and well documented. Anyone who came to any of our events remembers, I'm sure, us and the events clearly!! (They were the best around at the time, and still would be now if we held one - ask anyone! Ooh, now there's an idea....)

Hermes' mention of unmetered dial up reminded me that many, many of the people talking about NGA, FTTH etc have absolutely no recollection of how FRIACO came about, nor its relevance today.

The current telco publicly voiced turmoil about 'oooh, the expense, how will we get our money back, there is no demand' etc etc is the same which triggered the campaigning, arguments and grassroots activity that was necessary prior to CUT hitting the 10 o'clock news, getting AOL and other major ISPs on side and on board, and, amazingly, getting FRIACO adopted across the whole of EU.

FRIACO led, firstly, to huge, widespread, mass adoption of the internet, innovation, and a closing of the digital divide. But, most importantly, from a telco point of view, is that it increased the number of people subscribing to their services by factors that had been previously unimaginable. Yes, they made MONEY, BIG MONEY....

Who could ever have imagined back then in '99 that in less than a decade 16million people in the UK alone would be able to access the Internet over a connection at least 10 times as fast as dial up (on the whole, if you are lucky) at the same price as a dial up connection then?

For the consumer, however, it meant no more limits to how often you could log on, especially if you were poor. It started the access for all, internet savvy world we know now in Europe.

If you don't know what FRIACO is, or why it is at least as relevant now to the debate, I strongly urge you to read the CUT archive site

For those who hate following links, try this as a reminder.

Do you remember the days when you paid for dial up by minute? (And the only person who gave you grief for being on too much was the bank manager for getting HUGE phone bills). Well, FRIACO brought flat rate internet access ie you paid one price per month and you could do what you wanted online. To everyone who wanted it.

Ring a bell with all these discussions ongoing about pricing models etc in the Ofcom review, usage limits, telcos' press releases etc?

Please do not let us have to re-invent the wheel....the CUT arguments still stand today. The investment, exactly as it was made prior to WW1 in the telephone system, is required, and all the telcos are well aware that if they can maintain their monopoly hold on it, they will not just get ROI in the next few years, but OVER and OVER again.

It wouldn't take much to get the type of people who successfully brought FRIACO to the whole of EU motivated again to take this on for NGA, surely? And now there really is a whole next generation of them fed up with being unable to do what they choose, when they choose, how they choose, and as fast as they choose....check out many of the broadband forums.........



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Future Broadband Consultations underway

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Read more! Two to get involved with right now. First up is Ofcom's Super-fast broadband consultation (open until 02.12.08), and secondly is the EU Review on fibre NGA networks(open until 14/11/08)

Ofcom's attempts to engage consumers by allowing commentary on each paragraph of the summary is interestingly different, although spot the issue the public is concerned with right now in the paragraphs about the use of technologies such as Phorm. Hopefully, other paragraphs will also receive public attention for issues of equal import such as dealing with the new digital divide, regulation to prevent monopolies, open access and so on.

The EU review also covers some of the issues surrounding the creation of new monopolies, as well as the issues around sharing access to ducts, poles, and fibres, including in the fibre local loop. The guidance from the EU is already late for some countries, such as Sweden, and one hopes that the framework will not conflict with the work that Ofcom is also doing on the subject.




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