Council leaders from around the UK have joined with the Local Government Association (LGA) to propose that the planned minimum universal UK broadband speed target of 2Mbps by 2012 be turned from a "commitment" (USC) into a legally required "obligation" (USO). This would effectively force the government, operators and ISPs to guarantee the availability of 2Mbps to everybody, which is distinctly tougher than a breakable commitment.


It's understood that the proposal was selected from a shortlist of 300 ideas that had been put forward as options to help improve local life, which had in turn been submitted by local council’s across the country. Sadly the government remains firmly behind its Universal Service Commitment (USC) of 2Mbps, as proposed by last June's Digital Britain report (here).


We note that neither the new USO proposal nor the existing USC appear to factor in other critical elements of delivering a reliable broadband service. Key issues such as the need for low latency connections, a minimum upload speed guarantee, service flexibility (reasonably good usage allowances) and of course affordability continue to be ignored.

ISPreview does not believe it is any good promising 2Mbps to everybody if the services delivered rarely achieve that speed, are not affordable for those on lower incomes and lack the flexibility to fully access and use modern online content, games and video services. However there is of course the issue of cost and who pays for all this? The government has set aside some cash for a USC but we have not as yet seen any clear plan for how it will be spent or whether it would even be enough.