By Peter Cochrane, 25 September 2008 08:00
COMMENT
Written at and dispatched to silicon.com from the Institute of Directors' Pall Mall office via a private wi-fi site, within an hour of arriving by train in London
I'm not generally moved to make political comment or even extend my thinking to the world occupied by our government leaders and the politically motivated.
Broadband from A to Z
Click on the links below to find out more...
A is for ADSL
B is for BT
C is for Cable & Wireless
D is for Dial-up
E is for Education
F is for Fibre
G is for Goonhilly
H is for HSDPA
I is for In-flight
J is for Janet
K is for Kingston
L is for Landlines
M is for Murdoch
N is for Next generation
O is for Ofcom
P is for Power lines
Q is for Quad-play
R is for Remote working
S is for Satellite phones
T is for Trains
U is for Unbundling
V is for VoIP
W is for WiMax
X is for Xbox
Y is for YouTube
Z is for Zombies
However, on my journey into London this morning I caught sight of a newspaper headline stating that our government was to give every child in the land the princely sum of £700 so they can all get online. That got me thinking!
How out of touch with the real world are our politicians? Why would they want to do something like this, other than buying votes? Everyone is online already, and if they are not it is because they choose not to be so.
The price of broadband and PCs is now so low that access is far below the cost of hi-fis, TVs, satellite and cable. With ISP prices as low as £3.25 per month from one provider, and a lot coming in below £5 per month, and some PCs and laptops now costing less than £200, getting online is no longer expensive or a big deal.
So what is this headline £700 for? Will every child in the land get £700, or will it be just those who are not online already? Is it a one-off payment, or is it an annual handout? Is it a per-child or per-household payment? No one seems to know! And what will it cost the good old, hard working tax-payer?
There are about 15 million children under the age of 20 in the UK today. At £700 per head this programme would cost around £10.5bn. If the payment were per household, with an approximate average of two children per home, the cost would be £5.25bn. And if this is to be a handout for those without broadband access at all, then it rapidly becomes petty cash and another meaningless political gesture.
The really interesting feature about all this is that the politicians are really missing the point. What is called broadband today plainly isn't. And getting fibre to the home and office is a real national requirement on every level from future health and education through to GDP generation and future standing in world markets.
So how much would it cost to get 'real broadband' deployed using optical fibre? The latest internal industry estimates are around £9bn to £10bn, as 85 per cent of the UK population already live within 1km of an installed fibre route.
Providing fibre all the way to the home (augmented by wi-fi/WiMax in difficult locations) would bring unbounded benefits. What's more, they would come at a trivial cost compared to 3G and many other technologies which have been recently deployed.
But unlike many other countries, while the UK government can't find any money to trigger a national fibre rollout, it can find £5bn to £10bn to throw at a hugely important non-problem!
Comments
There are 20 comments. Join the discussion
1. Andy McNaughton
I am the Chair of Governors of a primary school and some of our children come from homes that cannot afford broadband and a decent PC.
My daughter is at secondary school and a lot of the course work requires access to the internet and children without computers at home have to stay at school to complete their work.
I do agree that the detail of this proposal needs a lot of thought as maybe it is better for children to stay at school to use a computer
2. Andie
I'm normally a fan of your column, but this article left me aghast at the statements made.
Yes, maybe you do not have any problems getting broadband, but many homes in the UK (and around the world) are still internet-less, let alone broadband-less, any initiative to increase internet and broadband access should be applauded, no matter how insignificant.
Secondly, your comments about FTTH show how much YOU are missing the point. For those who do not have ANY form of internet access, FTTH is not a "real national requirement". For these individuals, a dial-up is already a godsend. FTTH is only a requirement for knowledge workers and heavy consumers of digital media.
Your costings are flawed. If the UK government is planning assistance like that of other contries, these funds are for those who do not have internet connectivity, or even just those who do not have a computer at home, which obviously is far less than the total under-20 population.
3. Ant Norris
Fibre rollout, IS a "real national requirement" as faster broadband speeds clearly correlate with higher income for the nation. Unless I've missed something, the UK has very little in natural resources or manufacturing, so "knowledge workers" are actually quite important to the economy, plus "heavy consumers of digital media" are going to become the vast majority in the future, and by holding back broadband speeds the government is holding back the economy.
If the proposals are for EVERY household or child to receive this payment then it makes no sense, apart from a vote winner, but if it's for the very poorest and they can guarantee that it is spent on computers and internet access then it's a good move, you wouldn't want it going towards a holiday or beer fund...
4. Karen Challinor
Andy & Andie, yes any initiative to get internet access into peoples homes should be applauded
however the amount set aside is paltry and doesn't cater for real world conditions such as short term leases and non transferable long term ISP contracts, credit check requirements or the family having other priorities such as paying the rent or putting food on the table
i.e. things which affect the poor, which clearly neither you nor Mr Brown are nor do you have much contact either, so you don't know these things
I was born into a poor family, I have first hand knowledge of the pressures these families endure, and thats the families that haven't given up or buckled under the strain and turned to other forms of survival such as crime
what will prevent the shiny new PC purchased with the £700 from turning up at cash converters the following day or being "stolen" in the night, who will regulate the internet connection to ensure it is used for educational purposes ?
as Mr Cochrane has stated it is a poorly thought out scheme at best and at worst a blatant attempt to buy votes from the poorest section of society and it will fail on all counts
5. Richard
Of course there are exceptions, but most people who don't use the Internet, simply don't see that it has enough value to them.
So, they spend their time and money on other things.
Retailer and "the industry" cause some of the problems by pretending that the web can be accessed only by using the latest, most expensive hardware; only by using Microsoft products.
Somehow, non-users have become convinced that web access is not possibly without committing to broadband; not possible via a "pay-as-you-go" dialup service.
The media doesn't help by continually highlighting the seamy side of the web - as something to fear rather than something to avoid by using ordinary "life skills."
Finally, there is an issue with access to landline phone lines - essential for ADSL connections:
At present, people who have poor credit histories or who move house frequently cannot get landlines.
Such people are able only to use expensive "pay-as-you-go" mobile phones.
These phones are unsuitable for web-browsing.
The issues of universal access to telecoms is a proper matter for Ofcom and government to resolve.
The government should also consider why so many buildings and their facilities - which are provided using public money - are not available "out of hours" for public use: Schools, libraries, NHS surgeries, etc.
6. Alastair Warren
I have a few issues with this.
1. Tim Berners-Lee is aghast at the amount of misinformation on the Internet. How much of what is on the net is correct?
2. What's the point of people working and trying to get on, if those that make no attempt and live off the state get given it all on a plate?
3. Haven't the policies pursued by Labour just broadened the gap with the richest and poorest? If their policies had worked wouldn't some people have progressed upwards and got PCs for their kids?
4. Wouldn't the kids be better off using the web at school?
7. Peter Cochrane
Andie = Think, check the facts, look at the market, see where people are spending money, rather than just reacting.
1) This is a UK proposal and not a solution for the planet
2) People are spending more on beer, fags, gambling, and entertainment than they are on education and the internet
3) Prices are now so very low for everything that we are in the league of must have 'top end trainers and sports gear'
4) It is about choice - where people want to be - and no amount of government campaigning will change that
5) There will always be a bottom end of society and there will always be people willing and able trying to help
6) How do I know all this? It is where I came from! No one cared that I had no books as a child, very few toys, poor clothing, and second rate food - that was the way it was! I joined the library and got on with it, and when I could I got jobs to earn a little and make a difference...
7) People who need help should see a route to getting it....but there comes a point where they have to decide....we are now at that point!
Peter
8. Peter Cochrane
Andy = A decent PC on the UK high street is now £160 - 230. Second hand machines are even cheaper! An there are a lot of people and organizations giving free support. The problem is one of what parents see as important. I bet a lot of your families are equally challenged financially and yet some will buys a PC for their child instead of a games console of the latest fashion items.
Worst case engineering cripples a company and/or a society - it is just impossible to get to 100% of anything!
Peter
9. Peter Cochrane
Ant = This turned out to be a Party Political BS spurned by the annual conference with the detail leaked out over a one week period. And as you might expect it got watered down every day until it became rather insipid! I'm afraid it still isn't clear how many children will be affected!
But it still makes no sense!
Peter
10. Peter Cochrane
Karen = You make some good points here! And like you I come from an extremely poor family where money was in short supply, as was the charity of families and the community.
We learned to get by - and today - you can get by with a lot less than £700 if you want to get on line!
Peter
11. Peter Cochrane
Richard = What a nice, sensible and balanced view - and how right you are.
There are lots of simple solutions to complex problems - and they are all wrong!
This is more about society and attitudes rather than the cost of technology.
Peter
12. Peter Cochrane
Alastair = It is the nature of the beast - which is essentially about freedom.....and there is always a price....which I rather think is worth paying.
If people you their intelligence that a lot of these worries evaporate!
Peter
13. Ed Lewis
Absolutely spot on!!
14. MikeW
ILAs (Individual Learning Accounts), anyone ?
15. Karen Challinor
more libraries - I've always found you learn more from books than the internet
16. Peter Cochrane
Ed = Thanks - pleased you liked it! Peter
17. Peter Cochrane
MikeW = We need a law against 3LA - three letter acronyms...and the lust of government to control every breath we take! Peter
18. Peter Cochrane
Karen = It depends on what you are trying to learn. Books are so linear, planar and dead, and the contain a lot of errors that cannot be corrected. The internet on the other hand is dynamic, interactive and full of misinformation. The clever trick is to get the best of both worlds! Peter
19. Brian Peterson
Hi Peter,
I've just finished talking to a single mother who is on benefits. She can only afford a mobile phone
(pay as you go) & her local library is a 40 minute bus ride away & 10 minute walk. She would love to have internet access and go online to search for jobs etc. How would you suggest she do so?
20. Arthur Butterfield
Sorry - you have had too much comfort for too long and are out of touch with the reality of many.