I have taken a long time before settling down to write this piece on Lord Carter's Digital Britain Report. I've done that because I was conscious that my initial reaction would be something of a kneejerk one which might, if I sat down and thought about it a bit, mellow over time. I'm not sure it has.
The Report, which Lord C is keen to point out is a draft and a discussion document, has been roundly criticized in all quarters. The occasional person has put their head about the parapet to defend Lord C but, if we are being honest, there hasn't exactly been a rush.
The main charge is that the Report, in recommending a minimum 2 meg broadband speed for every household, lacks ambition. Personally, I do not think that goes far enough.
Lord C's defence is that the minimum speed is a guaranteed minimum available to every single household and it will be difficult and expensive to achieve.
My own view is a simple one – why set ourselves such dull and uninspiring targets? If we are about to spend a massive amount of time, effort and money, why not try to achieve something bigger? Developed nations around the world see 20 meg, 50 meg and even 100 meg connections as nothing out of the ordinary. We plan to give a minimum of 2 meg. And, if we are being honest, we all know that, based on past experience, if you tell people in this country that they are going to get a minimum of 2 megs, they are going to get 2 megs – nothing more.
The Report, for me, underlines all that is wrong with the country at the moment. It lacks any self belief, any ambition, any hope, any drive. It is feeble in the extreme. We no longer strive to win, we strive to provide some sort of minimum level of service. And it's pathetic.
Back in 1961, President John F Kennedy made a speech to Congress in which he outlined the reasons why they should back his space plan. He said:
“I believe we should go to the Moon. But I think every citizen of this country as well as the Members of the Congress should consider the matter carefully in making their judgment, to which we have given attention over many weeks and months, because it is a heavy burden, and there is no sense in agreeing or desiring that the United States take an affirmative position in outer space, unless we are prepared to do the work and bear the burdens to make it successful. If we are not, we should decide today and this year.
This decision demands a major national commitment of scientific and technical manpower, material and facilities, and the possibility of their diversion from other important activities where they are already thinly spread. It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent, wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel.
New objectives and new money cannot solve these problems. They could in fact, aggravate them further--unless every scientist, every engineer, every serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant gives his personal pledge that this nation will move forward, with the full speed of freedom, in the exciting adventure of space.”
He didn't say, 'Well, this is going be hard and the Russians are already pretty much there. So rather than reach for the stars, how about we reach for Dagenham? We could do that and it still won't be easy. Many people will get further but we will give you a minimum guarantee of Dagenham. What do you say?'
I do not for a second think that guaranteeing a 20 meg or 50 meg connection would be easy. I also do not necessarily believe that it could be rolled out using current technology. So, here's my thought – let's have a guarantee of a minimum speed of 20 megs by 2012 for every household in the country. Let us strive to achieve. If we need to equip a small number of house with fibre or satellite or some other technology, let's do it. Of course it will cost a lot of money but we're printing money at the moment, so we can use as much as we want! Seriously, though, if we are to bring the advantages of the internet to every household in the UK that is going to cost money and it will cost money if we strive to achieve a slow speed or a faster speed but the returns for us as a society (and the Government through increased taxes) will be great as the UK takes its place at the forefront of technological advance and of ecommerce.
Lord Carter was meant to dream of a better future and he could only come up with a slightly enhanced present (and I am being generous here). The UK needs to dare to dream because if we do not, we will be left behind by countries with real vision.
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