DEBill – Land Owners Demand More Details on 10Mbps Broadband USO

The Country Land and Business Association, which represents rural land owners and businesses from across England and Wales, has called on the Government to “set out clear plans” for how the new legally-binding 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) will work in practice.

The proposed USO, which forms part of the wider Digital Economy Bill 2016-17 that is being debated in the House of Lords this afternoon (here), is largely targeted towards helping those in the final 2-3% of the United Kingdom, where more traditional fixed line “superfast broadband” services may be unable to reach (24Mbps+ coverage is expected to reach around 97-98% of the UK by 2019).

Ross Murray, CLA President Ross, said:

“Establishing a legal right to broadband is a major breakthrough in ending the digital divide. There is a risk that the impact of the USO could get lost in bureaucratic wrangling between industry lawyers and Ofcom.

This consumer protection will only make a major difference if people who live and work in the countryside are made aware of their rights and can exercise them easily. There is still a job to do to ensure rural consumers get the internet connections they need.

Under a USO any rural business owner receiving less than a minimum standard of service must have easy access to a mechanism by which their connection or service is improved. The legally set minimum standard must also move upwards regularly to ensure that service levels keep pace with consumer and business demand.”

At present Ofcom is still busy consulting upon the technical options for the USO and the plan was to complete those proposals before the end of 2016 (two weeks to go). Meanwhile the Government are consulting upon the legislative and political side, although they may wait to publish the outcome from that until they’ve had a chance to see what the regulator proposes (details here, here and here).

Meanwhile BT has offered to do the USO without any need for public funding (here), although this may partly hinge on whether or not Ofcom agree to soften their stance on legal separation of Openreach (here). Elsewhere one of BT’s proposed solutions, Long Reach VDSL (FTTC), doesn’t work at its best unless existing ADSL lines are disabled (here and here) and that may present a difficult challenge for some areas.