Welcome:   Broadband gets Political

With varying plans from the parties, the future of broadband for the UK seems unclear:

>> Mobile broadband provider Orange, has won the top spot in a survey conducted by YouGov. They were named best mobile broadband provider in categories such as reliability, customer service, upload speeds and easy usability. They have maintained their position as number one for two years running. The survey asked the opinions of 2037 adults in the UK and the providers were evaluated on 15 different categories. Asif Aziz of Orange commented that the win was in recognition of their strong customer focus and their network quality.


>> Charles Dunstone the CEO of Carphone Warehouse has hinted that Talk Talk may be the next provider to offer a broadband, TV, home phone and mobile phone quadruple bundle. The news comes after the acquisition of Tiscali last year, which already has a TV service. Talk Talk is also due to sign up to Project Canvas, the TV streaming service. Experts predict that Talk Talk will be going head to head with Virgin, the other main player when it comes to quadruple bundles.

Talk Talk has also shown support for the Conservative's plans for the future of fibre optic broadband. The Torys have said that they hope to allow investment in the service by providers, reducing the monopoly which BT currently has on the UK infrastructure. Andrew Heaney from Talk Talk commented that the move would allow internet providers to offer better and faster services and it will be quicker than waiting for BT to roll out fibre optic broadband. The Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne has recently outlined plans to offer speeds of up to 100Mbps by 2017 if they get into power. They intend to use part of the TV License fee to cover the cost.

In keeping with the Conservative theme, Talk Talk have done a u-turn on their plans to increase charges to Tiscali customers following the take over last year. Customers on broadband only packages were told they must pay an extra £5 a month if they fail to take up the new broadband and phone service from Talk Talk. The company has now realised they must honour old contracts and they will offer a half price service for 6 months to customers who take out a new contract with Talk Talk. Those who do not take on the new service will receive a credit to cover the increased cost.


>> BT and O2 have announced a 5 year partnership deal which will see O2 improve its networks and its ability to offer a range of services to its customers. BT already works with O2 to provide its mobile broadband services, but a high capacity and core network are essential to future proof the business. Nigel Purdy of O2 has stated that as data volumes increase the need to consolidate the fixed and mobile services has become more obvious as a way to ensure the best service for customers.


>> Analysis from broadband comparison site Top Ten Broadband has indicated that the new BT Infinity product could boost some areas of the country by as much as 20x. The average across the country could be as much as 8.5x. The Infinity product is currently available in 30 locations around the country including Basingstoke, Chelmsford, Enfield, Halifax and parts of London. These locations have had fibre optic cabling installed, but not all parts of these towns will receive the service. Top Ten Broadband point out that BT seem to have a good mix of larger towns and smaller rural areas, whereas Virgin Media has focussed on larger cities only.


>> Chief Executive of the British Phonographic Industry, Geoff Taylor, has responded to a comment made by Talk Talk regarding the payment of anti piracy measures. Charles Dunstone from Talk Talk suggested that the cost of any measures made by internet providers to tackle file sharing would be passed on to the customer. Mr Taylor said this was scaremongering and that providers should absorb the cost or pass on costs to those who are caught. He believes that the comments were aimed at creating a case for not fighting file sharing at all.


>> Virgin Media has been reassuring regulators that their piracy monitoring technology will not harm their subscribers or impact on their privacy. The trial of the new system from Detica reveals the amount of file sharing taking place on the network, but does not identify the people responsible. Ofcom, the ICO and the EC have all been told about the trial and will be closely monitoring how it meets privacy rules.

Virgin Media is to offer its customers free home phone to mobile calls and will be the first provider to do so. The offer will be available to customers on their broadband bundle packages and will be launched in April. The plans allows customers to call anyone on a Virgin mobile without any charge.

Meanwhile Virgin has revealed that it had a record breaking 2009 after use of its digital TV service increased an impressive 50%. It reported 750 million on-demand views during the year, with 60% of their customers regularly using the service. Cindy Rice from Virgin said that their company was their first to bring real on-demand TV to the UK and they have been able to redefine how people watch TV by freeing up the schedules. † [last update: 04.02.10]

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