Digital Britain Author Spells Out Case For Internet Service

Lord Carter, the author of the ground-breaking Digital Britain report which is expected to be published this summer, has given an indication that he feels some 25 to 30% of the UK will not have an economic case for building a next generation 'fixed network'.
He told the Daily Telegraph in an April interview that many people will be surprised to read that the BBC iPlayer is considered a next-generation internet service, perhaps because they most likely have been using online video services for some years.
"We would consider next-generation internet video to be referring to HD content at a bit-rate of 4Mbps and faster, " he said, noting that the iPlayer is slowly heading toward including higher quality content.
Lord Carter also admitted that many areas will not get new networks, so the current ADSL2+ (up to 24Meg) roll-out across the nation from BT will be all that people see for sometime.
There is an indication that the USO of 2Meg may actually be served by a combination of mobile and satellite broadband services.
Satellite broadband seems to be popular for filling in hard to reach areas as Ireland, who have a contract with Three to provide Ireland's 100% broadband coverage, will use satellite to fill in the 8% of the country it can't reach with mobile broadband.
As for Britain being on course for a different world of media use, sorry to say, but the UK has been there for some years, with the public using peer to peer networks to get what the traditional media is not supplying.
One thing people often say about peer to peer networks is that they can obtain video at a higher resolution and quality than is available to buy.
He said that the "death of linear TV and the rise of non-linear on-demand TV has been well sign-posted", and "10 years is a long time but we do not share the vision that all TV will be 'on demand' in that time", as millions will still want to watch live events as they happen.
(BMcC/KMcA)