The independent Ofcom Consumer Panel (OCP) has called on policy-makers to consider allowing those excluded from first generation broadband services to leapfrog straight to next generation access (NGA).

The panel offers a number of solutions to help bring this difficult goal about, which include the creation of a map to help identify such areas and analyse the potential costs and benefits involved:


Certainly this is an issue that must be tackled, otherwise the digital divide will only widen in a whole new direction. Countering that is the economic realities involved, which would require truly significant investment to achieve the stated goals and BT alone can’t be expected to fund that.

We've certainly seen a good number of existing public-private partnerships involved with current broadband services. It makes sense to start developing these for next-generation products before the rollout begins rather than after. However this can only work with leadership coming from the top and that means government becoming proactive, which is not a word many would associate with politicians.