I was enthralled by the David Davis piece in The Times today, highlighting the crime that is the UK broadband system and his suggestion for resolving it.
The highlights were that the lack of decent connectivity in this country is not something that should worry just geeks and politicians, but it should worry everyone as it has a direct effect on many aspects of our lives.
A man after my own heart. I always knew he was a genius.
But his solution is just a little too renegade for me and misses the easiest way to solve this issue. He suggests getting the long-term unemployed to get digging the trenches and laying the pipes that will allow us all to have superfast broadband. Not so much ‘on your bike’ but ‘on your digger’.
Now, I am sure there are many people who are ready to wave the ‘typical Tory’ baton at Mr Davis for suggesting people should be forced down the trenches in some Dickensian –inspired workhouse scheme. But they should all stand back and listen more closely to what he is saying and take heed. Because, to be honest, he is one of the few UK politicians willing to come up with a solution for this problem.
His suggestion that long-term unemployed should help build the digital network we need benefits everyone. People that have been on the dole for a while get a job and start to regain some self-confidence back. They will be contributing to our society in a way that quite a lot of jobs don’t (I would have more respect for them than, say, a car salesman or a double glazing salesman) and we would all get the broadband we need.
Now, the big problem with Mr Davis’ theory can be summed up in two letters –B and T. He is expecting British Telecom to care about the digital needs of every British person. Problem is, they don’t.
You can pay to employ as many BT engineers as you like, you can give BT free labour for years and they will still have no intention of providing proper broadband coverage for 100 % of the population. Because, Mr Davis, it is not in BT’s commercial interest to wire the whole of Britain. They can’t make big profits out of a village with three croft farms on the Isle of Lewis or even a village like Howden where, if you forget its biggest employer (the Press Association), there is not the volume of customers and usage BT needs to make a profit.
If there was, they would have done it by now. They would have taken the investment cost hit knowing they would reap the rewards later.
The truth is, BT is a global company with far bigger interests than improving broadband connections in the rural parts of the UK and the quicker politicians realise this, the better.
We need to forget about BT and look at alternatives. Politicans in Cardiff Bay, London and Edinburgh should be falling over themselves to engage with companies that deliver broadband by satellite.
There are loads of them out there and the one thing you can guarantee is if you can't get a pipe to a place it will have a satellite spinning over it.
Why haven't we forced Arquiva to surrender more spectrum from traditional TV and radio masts for terrestrial broadband? OFCOM seem to be constantly handing out licences for radio stations no one listens to - why aren't we handing that spectrum to potential wi-fi companies?
In short, there is no need to buy spades for the long-term unemployed just yet - let's just give up our heroin-like addiction of BT and move on to new partners who can deliver what we need now.
Here endeth the lesson!
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