UK net is "not ready" for future

bealtine

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11551200

The UK is slowly climbing up the broadband world rankings, but is still not "ready for tomorrow," according to a global study of net services.

The annual report, commissioned by network giant Cisco, looks at how well countries are doing in terms of both quality and penetration of net services.

The UK is now ranked 18th out of 72 countries, up from 25th place last year.

South Korea is once again ranked first.

The annual study, conducted by the University of Oxford's Said Business School and the University of Oviedo in Spain looks at a range of factors, including both the number of homes to have broadband and the quality of the services.

Quality, for the purposes of the study, encompasses the speed of the connection and the latency - the amount of time it takes data to arrive at a machine.

It put 14countries in the elite category of being ready for the "applications of tomorrow", including the obvious; Korea, Japan and Sweden and the less obvious; Latvia, Bulgaria and Portugal.

In 2008, when the first study was commissioned, only one country - Japan - was judged ready for tomorrow.

The applications ascribed to tomorrow's internet include high definition internet TV and high-quality video communications.

The report found that such applications would require an average download speed of 11Mbps and an upload speed of 5Mbps.

The average global upload speed currently is just 1.7Mbps.

In this year's report the UK is categorised as "comfortably enjoying today's applications", alongside 19 others including the USA, France, Canada, Greece and Poland.

A further 19 countries - including Vietnam, Egypt, China and India, are characterised as being "below today's application threshold" while five countries - Algeria, Peru, Nigeria, Kenya and Angola - are viewed as having only the most basic of services.

The report finds that average broadband speeds in the UK now stand at 6.4Mbps (megabits per second), which is more than double that in 2008, when the first report was compiled.

It is also above the global average of 5.9Mbps.


"The UK is not on average ready for tomorrow but there has been significant improvements in the last two years," said Fernando Gil de Bernabe, a senior director at Cisco.

Mr de Bernabe said the UK was likely to experience a "step-change" in its broadband footprint over the next 12 months, because of increased fibre optic roll-outs from BT and extensions of Virgin Media's cable network.

"Where similar fibre roll-outs have happened the download speeds improved by 50 or 60% in just one year," he said.

Those countries which are categorised as ready for tomorrow in the report have one thing in common, according to Mr de Bernabe.

"There is a clear digital strategy. These countries have placed a bet on broadband and think it will have the same impact on their economies as the infrastructures of the past. They want a society that is based on knowledge," he said.

The UK government has ambitions to be the best broadband economy in Europe by 2015, although it has so far only committed to the rollout of basic 2Mbps broadband by that date.

That decision could mean the UK falls foul of European legislation. The European Union wants member states to provide citizens with a minimum of 30Mbps broadband by 2020, with all nations offering basic broadband - generally regarded as 2Mbps - for all by 2013.

Mr de Bernabe said the UK needed to put its pledge into practise.

"What I hear repeatedly is the question about who is going to pay for it. The leadership countries aren't asking those questions," he said

ednwireland

probably from this report

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1018/breaking35.html

However, the study found more work is needed to ensure that the networks here can cope with future applications. It said that one in five countries were prepared for future applications to support smart to support smart, connected communities. Ireland was not among them.

“Ireland is rated as a country whose network is ‘meeting the needs of today’s applications’,” said Cisco Ireland’s managing director Kim Majerus.

“This means they are OK for today but they are not among the 14 countries who are “ready for the applications of tomorrow.”

bealtine

ednwireland wrote: »

probably from this report

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1018/breaking35.html

A more balanced view:

http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews/business/survey-ireland-13th-in-world-broadband-leadership-478180.html

Survey: Ireland 13th in world 'broadband leadership'

Monday, October 18, 2010 - 02:15 PM

Ireland has been placed 13th of 72 countries worldwide for broadband leadership, according to a new survey.

The study, carried out on behalf of Cisco Systems Inc. by Saïd Business School at Oxford University, shows that worldwide, broadband quality has increased 48% in the last two years.

In the broadband leadership ranks, Ireland’s moves to 13th place from 16th last year - ahead of France, Canada, the United States and the UK among others. Ireland is also grouped amongst the top ten “broadband movers” since 2009 with 88% broadband penetration, an 11% increase on the previous year.

The results have been welcomed by Communications Minister Eamon Ryan, who said Ireland has seen a spike in broadband improvement over the past two years.

“This improvement”, said Minister Ryan “is a reflection of the Government’s progressive broadband policy, which encourages collaboration as well as competition

“In two years, €1.5bn of public and private monies have been invested in our broadband networks and services. Broadband subscriptions have more than doubled from 600,000 to 1.5 million.

“Service providers here are already beginning to deliver the 100 megabit connections in 2010 that Europe is seeking for 2020,” Minister Ryan added.

“With ongoing investment in our networks and improvements in quality, speed and availability, we are significantly progressing.”

These assertions were however challenged by Eamonn Wallace of consumer advocacy group IrelandOffline, who said Ireland has some of the highest costs for basic broadband in the world and was “fossilised in a broadband mediocrity”.

“With the lowest telecommunications Investment in the developed world (as a % of GDP) we are therefore guaranteed to remain in absolute and total mediocrity for the foreseeable future,” Mr Wallace said in a statement.