Today three members of the Panel attended a briefing session organised by Digital UK to report on the current state of the digital switchover programme. The headline message is that the programme announced in 2005 is on time and on budget. About a third of transmitters (around 500 out of 1,150) have been switched and around a fifth of households (around 5M out of 25M) have been switched.
New research has shown that 64% of those that did not take digital television until their region switched over have now said that they wish to try other digital technologies - 28% of them the Internet. A Panel member asked about the trial in the Granada region of the scope to use the switchover to digital TV to encourage those currently not online to become so. He was advised that the report on the trial has just been delivered to BIS and Ofcom and that it suggests that the model developed by Digital Outreach could be used to get more people online.
You can read the Digital UK Annual Report here.
Last year research by the Panel found that the public believed access to the internet was at a tipping point, moving from being a nice to have to an essential commodity, particularly for households with children or for individuals who are physically isolated. Research published today by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation supports that research, illustrating that for many people the scales have already tipped.
The latest Minimum Income Standard report, which gauges what members of the public think people need to achieve a "socially acceptable standard of living", found that a computer and an internet connection at home are no longer viewed as luxuries but as essentials. They are vital for all working-age households to enable people "to participate in society", both to access job opportunities and to get discounts on services, and everyone should be able to afford them.
This trend is only likely to increase as more, and more vital, services are delivered solely online, or provided offline in a way that penalises users through higher cost or lower quality. Already some of the best deals in areas like shopping, banking and insurance are only available online, and it is likely that online delivery of public services will also be on the agenda - moving transactions online has the potential to deliver considerable cost savings for a cash-strapped government.
Look in a bit more detail at those who are not online though and the picture is more complicated. Financial barriers are rarely the only - or indeed the main - reason people don't get the internet at home. Many fail to see how the benefits of the internet would make a difference to their lives. Even those who do are likely to need considerable support to get online and get the most from the internet, including help to choose and set up equipment, learn how to use the internet and possibly also a computer, and to keep themselves safe once they are online.
We have recently published a consumer framework for digital participation, supported by considerable consumer research, which brings together all the different things people need. We hope this will be a useful resource for all of those who agree, as we do, with the findings of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation research and want everyone to have access to the benefits the internet can bring.
A couple of weeks ago I attended the Consumer Forum for Communications, hosted by Ofcom and attended by a wide range of consumer groups. One of the items was a discussion about spectrum, including how it works, the history and some of the current issues. There has been an explosion of services in the past 20 years which have placed huge new demands on spectrum, including the increasing popularity of 3G. In just over 2 years over 4m mobile dongles* have been sold, and in 2009 mobile data traffic increased 200%. The popularity of these and other technologies is putting increasing pressure on the quality of service some consumers receive. So, while it may sound like something to leave to the geeks, spectrum has important implications for consumers.
Under the previous government, a deal was brokered by the Independent Spectrum Broker Kip Meek, designed to free up capacity on the networks. The deal is sitting on the new Government's books as a statutory instrument, which means it could be ready to go. However, it is controversial, with BT and a number of the mobile operators unhappy with the terms of the deal. The problems aren't going to go away though, and while there is no perfect solution the status quo is clearly not in the interests of consumers.
In last week's budget George Osbourne announced that a decision on spectrum would be made before Summer recess on 21 July, so hopefully we will soon have some answers. The hope is that whatever decision the new coalition government takes, they will make sure that the interests of consumers as well as industry are central. And, while it is likely to be a difficult task, the prospect of a little extra revenue for the treasury from any future spectrum auctions may provide some motivation - especially given all the talk of austerity and cuts.
*Dongles are also sometimes called USB modems. They are a small piece of hardware that connects to a laptop or desktop computer and plugs the user in to a wireless network.
Ofcom has joined The US regulator the FCC, Arcep in France and the European Commission among others around the world in leading a public consultation about 'Net Neutrality'. For the uninitiated the term tries to capture the range of issues that arise when network operators -including ISPs and Mobile operators for example - try to shape, restrict or in some way manage the content that flows over the network. I won't go into the detail - the consultation documents do that very well, but it is heartening that the document does appear to be sensitive to many of the consumer and citizen issues that arise. Whether adverse impacts on consumers need to be addressed will of course depend on whether we can assume that consumers themselves have the tools and ability to understand traffic management, and its potentially large impact on their access to services. As the document, in common with the other regulators' recent statements, recognises, these could become important issues for consumers and citizens, in addition to any adverse impact they may have on competition between operators.
The extent to which regulators have a legal basis to intervene in these matters has been controversial both sides of the pond, but in Europe the new EC framework does provide some tools for Ofcom to use, for example in providing guarantees that consumers should have a certain level of quality of service, or that there should be transparency requirements to ensure that every consumer has the information needed to choose between rival network providers. Whether these powers will be used, as the document is at pains to describe, is a matter for government and legislators.
Will the debate get beyond a narrow clique and demand the attention of a broader public, thus making Government action likely? not on the current evidence: There are almost no complaints about traffic shaping. This may mean we should all relax about the issues, but equally this could simply mean that they are fiendishly complex and ill-understood by consumers, who therefore need protecting. Either way, we can expect this bundle of issues to preoccupy more people - and generate more complaints - as people become more aware of the issues. (Paradoxically perhaps, since awareness is part of the solution). During the summer a separate EC consultation is expected and the issue will gradually come to a wider public.
Prediction: if consumers' enjoyment of football is impacted by traffic management, we can expect a much more vigourous debate. But we are a way off that yet, and those of us dragged away from television coverage of World Cup 2010 to read this stuff will remain a very small minority.
A couple of weeks ago Anna, the Panel Chair, and I visited Scotland, meeting with a range of people working on broadband, next generation access and digital participation. This included the Ofcom Advisory Committee for Scotland, Scottish Government officials, the Deputy Director of the Scotland Office - the official responsible for non-devolved matters in Scotland - and the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Digital Participation Group. There is lots of interesting and exciting activity going on. We shared the Panel's research on digital participation and the consumer principles developed by the Panel to guide the implementation of the Universal Service Commitment.
Since then, the coalition government have announced that Martha Lane Fox will be the new ‘UK Digital Champion'. Her role is similar to the one she played under the previous government, and will include advising and challenging the Government, the wider public sector and industry on making faster progress on getting more people and more services online. A new development is that Martha will now sit on the Efficiency Board, co-chaired by Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude, and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, and which oversees the Government's Efficiency and Reform programme.
Martha's role will be particularly challenging in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where responsibility for delivery of many public services is devolved. As well as influencing government in Westminster she will also need to work closely with the devolved governments who will be key to getting users in Scotland, and the other nations, online and delivering the kinds of online services that the UK's devolved citizens need and will value.