Category: IT

Information Technology

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Point-topic map notspots

This article should be read “Two key ideas for better broadband”

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Two key ideas for better broadband

The government’s Industry Day summit on Thursday to launch its key broadband policies risks missing out on some of the key ideas on how to tackle the UK’s big problems according to Point Topic, the broadband data analysts.
Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, who leads the Coalition’s policy for broadband, has set two main objectives – to make sure that everyone can get at least two-megabits per second broadband by the end of 2012, and to give Britain the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015.  The Industry Day is intended to set out the policy in more detail and win industry support for carrying it out.
Tim Johnson, Chief Analyst at Point Topic, is concerned that some of the most important ideas for turning these ambitious policies into reality will not even get discussed at the Industry Day.  Two things he believes are essential if the policy is going to be successful; first, to ensure competitors in the broadband market have access to the information they need to invest in the new networks and second, to recognise that the task is bigger than expected.
One example of where the broadband industry needs to have open access to information is the location of BT’s street cabinets.  Most of the individual cabinets are sitting on the pavement, visible to everyone, but knowing where they all are, across the whole UK, is vital to targeting investment, whether it’s for the “two-meg minimum” or full next generation access.  ………………

This map has way to many red spots…..

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They have a bigger version here http://point-topic.com/content/dslanalysis/tfsmj2010.html

USC broadband must be put in place before 2012 not moved out to 2015. As mentioned at #BDUK “Market failure” has been achieved so central funding can be used and a new public infrastructure put together it will after all provide savings across the board of Coalition spending which will improve it for everyone including those that have fast broadband.

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Congrats Leominster, Ludlow and Tenbury Wells

The Rural Regeneration Programme run by one of those hated RDA’s has given out £200,000 to Worcester-based Airband Community Internet Ltd to provide high speed coverage across towns in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire.

Hopefully the new LEP’s will be able to have access to the same or similar funding in the future for other rural areas like Banburyshire, a rural community surrounding Banbury and currently part of five RDA’s.

the full announcement can be found here:

High Speed Rural Broadband becomes reality as new pilot launched at RRZ Conference

AWM website

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You need to read “After RDAs: Look before you LEP”

David Bailey in his Birmingham Post BusinessBlog has a very good discussion on what we all need to think about before we jump into replacing the RDA’s

BusinessBlog

After RDAs: Look before you LEP

By David Bailey on Jul 12, 10 11:10 PM in Economics

As days go by we begin to learn more about what the coalition government, now two months old, has in mind in terms of economic development across England.

Leave aside the fact that London can carry on as usual, along with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, where there is no change to their development agencies. We’re talking of course of the English regions, or rather what replaces them.

What do we know so far?

The Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) that will replace the RDAs will, it seems, have to fund their own running costs, with LEPs bidding into a central pot of some £500 million a year (a quarter of what the RDAs had to work with).

And after Communities Secretary Eric Pickles won out in a Yes-Minister style Whitehall Turf War with Business Secretary Vince Cable, popular RDAs in The North East and West Midlands won’t after all be able to continue. They’re being scrapped, lock, stock and barrel.

As I’ve said in earlier blogs, that’s a mistake as there is much expertise in RDAs like Advantage West Midlands (AWM) which could be used to join up the work of sub-regional LEPs.

And even if a LEP’s territory actually maps that of an old RDA, sadly much of the RDAs’ former work will head back to Whitehall anyway.

…… the rest is here:

http://blogs.birminghampost.net/business/2010/07/after-rdas-look-before-you-lep.html

Should it disappear I have saved it here ……

pdf After RDA’s look before you lep pdf

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Wonder if the Coalition can do this for rural UK

 

In Healthcare IT News

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Broadband grant to create IT, telehealth jobs
July 07, 2010 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

WASHINGTON – When President Obama announced on July 2 a $795 million government program to develop broadband access in rural parts of the country, it meant an additional 5,000 jobs up front, he said.

Some of those jobs – though the administration did not pinpoint how many – will be in the healthcare IT and telehealth sectors. Obama noted that among the beneficiaries of the government award would be 900 healthcare facilities.

The investment will support 66 new Recovery Act broadband projects nationwide that, according to the grantees, will not only directly create approximately 5,000 jobs up front, but will also help spur economic development in some of the nation’s hardest-hit communities, helping create jobs for years to come. ……..

For the rest go here… http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/broadband-grant-create-it-telehealth-jobs

a retweet from http://twitter.com/cstineman/ via http://twitter.com/cyberdoyle/