APPENDIX 19
Memorandum submitted by Kingston Communications
(Hull) plc (S32)
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Kingston Communications (Hull) plc (KC)
has a unique view of the areas that the Committee is reviewing.
This is based on both its national telecommunication sales activities
and its original East Yorkshire operating area. In the latter,
in the environs of Hull, the company has a Universal Service Obligation
(USO) for simple voice telephony throughout which broadband is
almost universally made available, and a wider local loop deployment
in the County, without USO, where broadband service is limited
to a few areas that justify the network investment. The business
and service development effort at a corporate and regional level
recognises the development of broadband services as critical to
the Kingston portfolio.
1.2 Throughout this submission we will use
the simple definition "Broadband is the term used to describe
a wide range of technologies that allow high speed, always on
access to the Internet." as used by the Office of the e-Envoy.
We are in firm agreement with the sentiment expressed by them
". . . there is no "magic bullet" to deliver broadband
roll out in the UK. Rather a "virtuous circle" needs
to be stimulated in which demand and supply grow in parallel.
Much of the action is for industry, but there is a key role for
government[13]."
1.3 We recognise that, increasingly, the
development of new commercial and public sector service models
of e-commerce and e-government which are becoming available in
urban areas are placing organisations based in Rural Areas without
access to broadband at a disadvantage. Some deployed technical
options, such as satellite delivery, have tariff structures that
reflect a very high cost base, and may have performance limitations
that limit their utility. The speed of roll out of broadband services
requires both technology development and critical government agency
sponsorship. Simple commercial issues will otherwise continue
to limit the deployment of broadband to Rural Areas.
2. DEMAND FOR
BROADBAND IN
RURAL COMMUNITIES
2.1 KC does not have a national view of
the requirement. Our local information indicates a suppressed
demand in rural areas, but the strongest demand is from the Local
Authority, Health and Education sectors. Typically rural businesses
have similar needs for broadband to their urban based counterparts.
The result is a much lower density of demand. Coupled current
equity market conditions, this could lead to Market Failure, with
certain geographic areas not receiving the necessary infrastructure
investment. At some stage, KC believes that it would not be unreasonable
of the government to develop a form of Universal Service Obligation
on telecommunications operators with significant market power
in local loop telephony service.
3. EXISTING AND
PLANNED ACCESS
TO BROADBAND
IN RURAL
AREAS
3.1 Existing access is limited and will
remain so until the economic case for telecommunications service
providers to increase access is met. This is discussed below.
4. OBSTACLES
TO THE
PROVISION OF
BROADBAND IN
RURAL AREAS
4.1 Government in the form of the DTI has
recognised the simple economics of the deployment options for
Broadband. As they relate to Rural Areas, they are presented in
the following table.
Table 1
| Technology | Availability
| Notes |
Broadband based on Fibre
Optic cable
| Limited. Where Operator trunk routes pass through Rural Areas, service can be provided. Significant cost is involved in the final fibre access to the premise.
| High bandwidth service can be provided but charges normally contain a significant distance element to an Urban point of Internet presence.
|
Broadband based on
Cable Operator Hybrid Fibre
Coax infrastructure
| Where this service architecture has reached rural communities, this has signficant potential.
| In reality, further development of these networks is unlikely to be significant in the near term due to the high cost of the cable plant and conflicting demands for investment in the networks.
|
DSL Technology 1—
Asymmetric/Symmetric Digital
Subscriber Line (ADSL or SDSL)
| Limited in Rural Areas. The technology is only slowly being deployed in "low demand areas" by BT and other DSL operators.
| Each Main Distribution Frame (MDF) site needs to be equipped. Bandwidth delivery capability reduces with the length of the loop. Rural MDFs have a high proportion of long loops that are ill suited to broadband.
|
| Radio Systems | There is only limited spectrum with the correct characteristics to deliver broadband to Rural Areas. Equipment is readily available and the RA is shortly to auction a 3.4GHz allocation. Firstnet has a spectrum block in the 3.6-3.8GHz range suitable for this service. Deliberation continues on the 5GHz "Band C" which elsewhere supports broadband services in rural applications.
| Radio distribution has good potential, however, the cost of back-hauling from base stations to a Internet point of presence needs to be factored into tariffs.The technical sweet spot for delivery of broadband in Rural Areas is frequency that delivers ranges up to 15Km and will deliver service over paths that are not line of sight.
|
| Satellite | There is almost total geographic coverage of the UK, and Satellite service is available from at least one source.
| Space segment and satellite system capital costs are high. Service has Service Quality issues, time delays in signalling resulting in packet loss, resulting in lower grade service(s).
|
4.2 There are developing technologies some of which have
relevance to Rural Area deployment of broadband and they are outlined
in the table below. Key to the success or otherwise in their deployment
is the rapid resolution of technical specifications and deployment
criteria against existing services.
Table 2
| Technology | Development State
| Comment |
DSL Technology 2—Very
high speed Digital Subscriber
Line (VDSL)
| No deployment beyond trial. Standards still in preparation.
| Commercial deployment is not currently practical. The RA is seeking an EU co-ordinated radio emission standard to apply to systems. In practice, VDSL is a short range technology (to approx 300m) and requires a fibre deployment deep into the copper network. This is probably unrealistic in Rural Areas due to the cost of providing this fibre cable.
|
DSL Technology
3—Asymmetric Digital
Subscriber Line 2 (ADSL2)
| Trial only. Standards only at an early stage.
| This offers the potential to increase the delivery capability or reach of DSL, but deployment potentially clashes with existing DSL technology.
|
| DSL Technology 3—Asymetric Digital Subscriber Line 2Plus (ADSL2+)
| Standards are at an early stage. | This uses the same delivery mechanism as VDSL and thus has the same drawbacks as VDSL.
|
| Innovative Radio Platforms | SkyLinc are developing a tethered balloon radio platform. This offers extended ranges to frequency bands incapable of economic Rural Area deployment from conventional radio sites.
| |
| Powerline Technology | Trials only at present in UK.
| Delivery of broadband over the electrical mains power distribution cable network. The radio frequency emission limit standards, when finally established, will have an immense bearing on the viability of this technology. European Administrations are not co-ordinated in their views. A system in Austria has been closed down in other areas systems are being encouraged. Broadcasters and the UK military are worried that it emits a high level of "radio pollution".
|
5. THE ROLE
OF DEFRA
AND THE
COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY
5.1 The key current sponsoring organisations are the
RDAs. These have the ability to establish the initial commercial
conditions that enable telecommunication service providers to
roll out service. The diverse and geographically specific nature
of the requirements of particular projects effectively mean that
Consortium approaches are the best way to ensure cost effective
delivery of the requirements, through so called "broadband
aggregation". Few individual telecommunications service providers
can realistically provide all elements of such schemes. In this
respect, the role of DEFRA and the Countryside Agency is potentially
best as a source of direction and encouragement to the RDAs, and
any Special Purpose Purchasing Vehicles set up under their auspices
under the aggregation schemes proposed under the DTI Broadband
Taskforce scheme. At the same time both organisations can assist
in ensuring that RDA schemes that are currently based in education
and health connectivity are correctly scoped to enable third parties
requirements to be met purely on an incremental cost basis.
5.2 DEFRA and the Countryside Agency are better placed
than the RDAs to alert rural businesses to any RDA programmes
and a co-ordinate will increase the viability of schemes. A further
key role is to support the development of innovative technology
such as Skylinc. This particular technology may require support
in planning applications that would not naturally be forthcoming.
Kingston Communications (Hull) Plc
27 February 2003
13
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