Category Archives: Rural communications

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

7 Nov 2019

Posted under

Accountability, Rural communications, Rural communities

If you don’t fill out this consultation you might lose out on rural broadband

“People in Somerset and Devon are being asked which areas have the biggest need for broadband, ahead of the process to appoint a new contractor.

In September Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) terminated its contract with Gigaclear as it significantly fell behind schedule.

CDS wants to establish which areas lack infrastructure and where the private sector has no future plans to invest.

A replacement contractor is likely to be in place by next November. ‘Biggest impact’ CDS is a partnership between Devon and Somerset county councils to deliver broadband to rural areas.

Responses to the consultation will help inform how the contract is shaped.

The procurement process is due to begin next month.

Devon County Council’s cabinet member, and CDS board member, Conservative, Rufus Gilbert said the consultation would help them set out the proposed areas and where to focus efforts.

Somerset County Council has added that it wanted to ensure the public funding as the biggest impact in increasing coverage.

The consultation closes on 10th December.

Consultation here:

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

2 Oct 2019

Posted under

Rural communications, Rural communities

Yet another broadband promise …

Owl teserving judgment … but does note Swire’s constituency set to get it long before Parish’s … if it happens.

“More than 300,000 properties are set to benefit from a £250m project to improve broadband connections across the South West.

Jurassic Fibre, which is leading the fibre-optic project, says it is specifically targeting rural communities instead of cities.

Initial testing is being launched in parts of Devon in the autumn before the full rollout in early 2020.

Speeds of 20 times faster than the average UK household are expected.

Michael Maltby, CEO and founder of Jurassic Fibre, said the investment would “radically change” internet options.

He said the plans will reduce the “digital divide” between cities and smaller, rural areas, offering speeds of one gigabyte per second to homes and 10 to businesses. …”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-49900477?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/devon&link_location=live-reporting-story

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Aug 2019

Posted under

Misc, Rural communications, Rural communities

Johnson countrywide broadband fibre promise totally unachievable

Owl says: What planet is this man living on? Planet Trump?

“The UK’s telecoms industry has issued the prime minister a challenge of its own after Boris Johnson said he wanted full-fibre broadband “for all” by 2025.

An open letter says the target is possible, but only if the government tackles four problems causing delays.

It adds that all of the issues must be resolved “within the next 12 months” to achieve the high-speed internet goal.

But one expert said at least one of the measures was unachievable in that time frame.

Mr Johnson originally declared his desire to deliver the 100% rollout of fibre-optic broadband to properties across the UK “in five years at the outside” in an article for the Telegraph published before he won the leadership vote.

In it, he described the government’s former target of 2033 as being “laughably unambitious”.

The letter sent to 10 Downing Street lists four policies that the industry says require urgent attention:

Planning reform – at present telecom providers need to get a type of permission known as a “wayleave agreement” to get access to land and buildings to install cables. But in many cases property owners are unresponsive. The industry wants ministers to force landlords to provide access if a tenant has requested a full-fibre or other connection be installed

Fibre tax – the so-called tax refers to the fact that fibre infrastructure currently has business rates applied to it, just like other commercial property. The industry claims this discourages investment and should be rethought

New builds – the government has carried out a consultation into whether new-build home developments must incorporate gigabit-capable internet connections, but has yet to publish its response. In the meantime, the industry says too many new homes are still being developed without provision for fibre broadband

Skills – a large number of engineers will be required to carry out all the work involved. BT and Virgin Media have previously warned that Brexit could result in labour shortages. The industry says more money must be committed to training, and it must also be allowed to continue to “compete for global talent”

“Nationwide full fibre coverage is not a can that can be kicked down the road,” the letter concludes.

“Work needs to start now, and 100% fibre coverage requires a 100% commitment from government.”

The letter has been signed by the chair of the Internet Services Providers Association, the interim chief executive of the Federation of Communication Services and the chief executive of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association.

Their members include BT, Openreach, Sky, Gigaclear, CityFibre, Hyperoptic, Virgin Media, Google and Vodafone among many others.

Openreach, which maintains the UK’s digital network infrastructure, said it welcomed the government’s ambition but warned: “Upgrading the entire UK network is a major civil engineering challenge.”

It urged the government to “boost the build” by “creating an environment that encourages greater investment”.

Number 10 referred the BBC to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for comment. …”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49209013

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

25 Jun 2019

Posted under

East Devon economy, Inequality, Rural communications, Rural communities

Comments

1 Comment

Rural broadband still a dream for many – and will remain one

Shelve that dream of running an internet-based company in many parts of rural East Devon.

“The company awarded the publicly-subsidised contract to deliver superfast broadband to thousands of rural homes in Devon and Somerset has been given a deadline to come up with a rescue plan for the programme.

Last September, Gigaclear admitted the project was facing significant delays and was two years behind schedule.

Connecting Devon and Somerset, the organisation in charge of the whole project, stopped paying Gigaclear nine months ago.

It has told the firm it must come up with acceptable plans by the end of July to fulfill the contract.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-devon-48664146

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

18 Jun 2019

Posted under

East Devon economy, Rural communications, Rural communities

Vouchers up to £350 available to upgrade poor broadband services in Devon

“If you currently experience broadband speeds of less than 2 Megabits per second (Mbps), the Better Broadband Voucher Scheme may be able to help you access a basic broadband service that will offer download speeds of at least 10 Mbps.

The Better Broadband Voucher Scheme, developed by the UK government, provides a voucher worth up to £350 for basic broadband installation to homes and businesses that will not benefit from superfast broadband within the next twelve months. …”

To see if you qualify, see here:

Home

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

9 Jun 2019

Posted under

Rural communications, Rural communities

Fat cat mobile phone companies want £600m from the government to cover country

Mobile phone companies make large profits. They do not want to spend their money on coverage, it goes to bonuses and dividends. They want all of us taxpayers to dig further into our pockets to provide them with bigger profits from wider coverage.

“Mobile operators want ministers to invest more than £600m to tackle poor phone signals in the countryside.

O2, Three UK, BT’s EE and Vodafone want backing for their plan to invest jointly in a single rural network that would give the four operators 95% coverage.

Only 66% of the country enjoys full coverage, so millions of people and thousands of businesses have to grapple with patchy signals or total black spots.

The mobile giants are willing to invest £533m to stamp out “partial not spots”, where one or more operators cannot provide a signal. That would bring national coverage up to 88% through a barter system, where they would share access to each other’s masts.

In return, they want the exchequer to foot the bill for 95% coverage. That includes spending about £620m over 20 years on areas with no signal, and £6m on opening up the Emergency Services Network used by police and ambulance workers.

Operators have told ministers those costs could fall by £90m if planning rules around issues such as mast heights were relaxed.”

Source: Sunday Times (pay wall)

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

5 May 2019

Posted under

Accountability, Education (local), Rural communications, Sleaze, Transport (local)

Owl is back … refreshed … weekend catch-up

A few stories that caught Owl’s eye over the weekend:

Theresa May won as prize by Russian woman:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/nelsons-column-red-faced-theresa-14995151

BT could be given licence to charge more for internet connections in the countryside under proposals by the regulator to encourage bolder investment in broadband.
(Sunday Times, paywall)

Bus fares massively more expensive outside London:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/05/bus-fares-reveal-massively-unfair-gulf-between-london-and-rest-of-england

Parents resist schools being turned into academies:
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/may/05/academisation-rebellion-parents-resist-school-takeovers

Schools grossly underfunded:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pupils-less-five-years-ago-15002258

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Apr 2019

Posted under

Accountability, East Devon economy, Inequality, Rural communications, Rural communities

“Rural communities being ignored and underrated, say peers”

“Rural communities have been “ignored” and had “inappropriate” policies forced upon them, a report says.

A group of peers said a new agenda for the countryside was needed similar to the government’s industrial strategy.

Priorities included improving mobile and broadband connections, replacing lost bank and bus services and tackling social isolation, the House of Lords Rural Economy Committee said.

The government said it was committed to “rural proofing” policies.
Ministers plan to spend £3.5bn on supporting economic development in the countryside by the end of 2020 through the Rural Development Programme.
The cross-party committee of peers said policies suitable for urban and suburban areas had too often been foisted upon the countryside.

As well as improving communications, it is calling for action to address the supply and cost of housing and a lack of training for people working in rural industries.

“Successive governments have underrated the contribution rural economies can make to the nation’s prosperity and wellbeing,” it said.

“They have applied policies which are often inappropriate for rural England. This must change. With rural England at a point of major transition, a different approach is needed.”

Lord Foster, the Lib Dem peer and former MP who chairs the committee, said the “clear inequalities” between urban and rural areas could not be allowed to continue.

He called for a policy blueprint of equal ambition to the government’s industrial strategy to realise the potential of struggling and under-performing areas. …

… Only 41% of rural premises received a mobile data link of 2Mbps or higher, it found, compared with 83% in urban areas. …”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48065625

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

5 Apr 2019

Posted under

Privatisation, Rural communications, Rural communities

Gigaclear rural broadband project – paused probably for many months

From the blog of DCC Independent Councillor Claire Wright:

“There has been a delay now for sometime in Devon on the implementation of fibre to the home broadband. This means individual connections from the fibre cables in the road to each house.

A huge operation that was started by BT and in the past two years or so, operated by Gigaclear under the management of Connecting Devon and Somerset (Devon and Somerset County Councils).

Unfortunately, the timetable has slipped last autumn, partly due to the collapse of Carillion (Gigaclear were partners with a Carillion subsidiary engineering company) and partly due to the enormity of the Devon operation and road layouts.

One of the problems has been traditional Devon banks which have apparently been a challenge as the company usually digs up grass verges to install cables. Devon banks are also (quite rightly) protected under planning policy.

Connecting Devon and Somerset have had to apply for a funding extension from the government to allow for the extension of this work. This has been agreed in principle but won’t be endorsed nor the money received until the next comprehensive spending review later this year.

So without the firm confirmation contract extension funding and other logistical issues, there is still a delay of an unknown number of months.

This is deeply disappointing indeed and incredibly frustrating for communities such as Aylesbeare which doesn’t even have superfast broadband so residents are putting up with speeds of less than one megabit. I’m also aware that there are people living on the edges of communities who also have poor broadband service.

For residents and communities frustrated at the lack of connectivity there are other options, such as a voucher scheme to offset the cost of roof aerials for individual properties. For a bigger scheme involving whole communities, telecommunications companies can quote for a village service.

There are no easy solutions at the moment unfortunately and this is deeply frustrating for me and for many people in my ward.

Please email me if you have any questions at claire@claire-wright.org

I will update you when I know more.”

http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/fibre_to_home_broadband_delayed_for_an_unknown_number_of_months

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

23 Mar 2019

Posted under

Accountability, Education (local), Rural communications, Rural communities

“When Will Britain Acknowledge Our Countryside Poverty?”

“… If you live in a rural environment your chances of being successful in life are very much linked to your early years. I live in rural Worcestershire, and went to college from rural North Yorkshire. I remain the only degree educated person in my family and the reasons are clear – opportunities in rural areas are not as abundant for young people as they are in cities. As a result, our countryside has become a social mobility coldspot, with my local council of Wychavon rated 310th out of 324 councils in a recent government report. If your parents are plumbers or cleaners, bakers or builders, the chances are you will follow in their footsteps. For some, through choice, but for others, it is because options are limited.

It is easy to hide social mobility in the countryside. My town of Pershore is generally a well-off and affluent area. House prices and wages are above the national average, the town is a great place to raise children and the schools are generally good. But if you are from a working-class background and work in the service industry the average house prices of £300,000 quickly make the experience of living in the area unsustainable. And the recent revelation that house prices have been forced upwards by the government’s Help to Buy scheme, just adds to the issues people face. With housing unaffordable, people are struggling to help their children access opportunities to increase their chances in life.

Education is the key to success. Education opens doors to all, regardless of backgrounds. But in a rural area, education opportunities can be very limited. Schools have the added pressures of large catchment areas, with children travelling from a wide area. Class sizes can also be small and, in the current educational climate, unsustainable. So schools have to focus on traditional GCSE and A level subjects, limiting their students’ knowledge of other, potentially inspiring minority subjects. Similarly colleges focus on qualifications aimed at the local economy. In Pershore, our local college is an agricultural centre so, if a young person wants to study ancient history or geology, electrical engineering or photography, they must travel to neighbouring towns. This commute requires time and the money, and is also restricted further by the continued reduction of bus services in the area.

But it is an even bigger issue for the local economy if young people decide to go to university. As young men and women move into cities to study at university, they create a rural brain drain. This results in a drop in the 18-30 year old population, which further limits the opportunities of those who remain as it keeps job opportunities in traditional low paid professions. New industries rarely emerge and there are few incentives for young locals to return after graduation. With limited public transport and sluggish roll-out of high speed broadband graduates find no drive to return to their childhood homes. …

… Of course not everything is perfect in major cities, but it is clear that opportunities are more accessible and education is the driving force that helps students from more deprived environments succeed in life. Wychavon, however, is struggling to keep up with the pace, with education opportunities limited and access to transport becoming ever more a problem. Has social mobility stopped? Certainly not. But if you live in a rural area, your chances are being constrained, and maybe we need to seek alternative approaches to help our rural young people succeed.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/countryside-poverty_uk_5c7da47de4b060c5e078048c

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

6 Mar 2019

Posted under

Accountability, East Devon economy, Inequality, Rural communications, Rural communities

Rural communities and elderly will be hard-hit by cashless society

As banks and cash machines are being closed in rural areas, and where broadband for internet banking may be poor, people will struggle:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/mar/06/uk-cash-system-on-the-verge-of-collapse-report-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

18 Dec 2018

Posted under

Rural communications, Rural communities

Rural high-speed broadband? Better move to Spain or Portugal!

“… Ofcom said fullfibre internet is now available to 1.8m premises, a rise from 3% to 6% of homes and businesses, but the UK is still far behind countries such as Portugal, at 89%, and Spain, at 71%.

The regulator’s report also found that rural areas also face issues with mobile coverage. While 83% of urban homes and offices have so-called “complete” 4G coverage – services from all four major operators, Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three UK – it is a different story in rural areas. Just 41% of rural premises get complete mobile coverage, while Ofcom said that “in some remote parts of the country there is no coverage at all”.l …”

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/dec/18/uk-homes-slow-broadband-netflix-youtube-ofcom

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

1 Dec 2018

Posted under

Inequality, Rural communications, Rural communities

Comments

1 Comment

“Want to shop online? Best have a mobile signal” (so that locks out many rural areas)

“As millions start their Christmas shopping online, there’s a warning that consumers may need to have a mobile phone, and a decent signal, to make sure their transactions go through.

UK banks are starting to introduce a new layer of security, involving passwords sent to your mobile phone.

That could be a problem for hundreds of thousands of householders without a mobile, or no proper signal.

Now banks are being urged to find other ways to check a customer’s identity.
The new rules are part of an EU directive – already adopted by the UK – which is due to come into force by September 2019.

But critics say many people are likely to be inconvenienced.

“Banks are not yet great at looking after people at the margins – because they’re disabled, or because they live with no mobile coverage,” said James Daley, the managing director of Fairer Finance.

“These systems are designed for the 95% – while the remaining 5% are hung out to dry.” …

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46399707

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

4 Aug 2018

Posted under

Economy, Rural communications, Rural communities

“Advertised broadband speeds fall dramatically after rule change “

“Broadband providers have dramatically cut their advertised speeds following a recent rule change to prevent misleading claims, a consumer group has found.

Which? analysis of the UK’s biggest broadband providers found that 11 have had to cut the advertised speed of some of their deals since the new rules came into effect in May, with the cheapest deals dropping by an average 41 per cent.

The move has forced a number of providers to admit that they offer 10Mbps or 11Mbps, which is widely considered as the slowest acceptable speed for home internet.

These include BT, EE, John Lewis Broadband, Plusnet, Sky, Zen Internet, Post Office, SSE, TalkTalk and Utility Warehouse.

Previously they all advertised their standard broadband deals as “up to 17Mbps”, around a third higher.

Under the new tougher rules, home broadband providers must now ensure that at least 50 per cent of their customers can achieve advertised speeds during peak times.

They had previously been allowed to advertise “up to” speeds as long as they were available to a minimum of just 10 per cent of customers, resulting in widespread complaints from Government, consumer groups and the public.

Which? found that across all the deals on offer from the 12 biggest providers, the advertised speeds from “up to 17Mbps” to “up to 100Mbps” had decreased by an average 15 per cent. …”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/03/advertised-broadband-speeds-fall-dramatically-rule-change/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

4 Jul 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Cranbrook, East Devon Growth Point, EDDC, Inequality, Rural communications, Rural communities

“Rural areas at risk of terminal decline warn council chiefs”

Owl says: is EDDC paying too mych attention to Cranbrook and the Greater Exeter Growth Area p, leaving the rest of the district to wither on the vine?

“Unaffordable housing, an ageing population unable to access health services, slow broadband and poorly skilled workers make for a deepening divide between town and country.

The threat is exposed in the interim report of the Post-Brexit England Commission set up by the Local Government Association to examine challenges faced by non-metropolitan England.

Young people are struggling to stay in rural communities where the average house price is £320,700 – £87,000 higher than the £233,600 average of urban areas, excluding London, the report said.

Rural firms grapple with patchy mobile and broadband connections which cuts off access to new markets.

Councillor Mark Hawthorne, chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “Rural areas face a perfect storm.

“It is increasingly difficult for people to buy a home in their local community, mobile and broadband connectivity can be patchy.

“People living within rural and deeply rural communities face increasing isolation from health services. If Britain is to make the most of a successful future outside the EU, it’s essential our future success is not confined to our cities. Unless the Government can give non-metropolitan England the powers and resources it needs, it will be left behind.”

Tom Fyans, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “Affordable housing, public transport, high speed broadband and thriving rural economies are all interdependent.

“If our market towns and villages are to thrive once again we must make sure that rural communities are attractive places to live and prosper for people of all ages.”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/983495/uk-housing-crisis-countryside-rural-areas-at-risk-terminal-decline-warn-council-chiefs

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

6 Jun 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality, Rural communications, Rural communities

“Universal broadband speed plan ‘unambitious’, say Lords”

“The government has been told to “up its game” over plans to guarantee a minimum internet speed for all broadband users.

Peers said the current Universal Service Obligation (USO), which will entitle consumers to a minimum internet speed of 10Mbps, was “unambitious”.
But the government said the USO was a “safety net” and it had “much greater ambitions”.

“The USO has an important part to play in ensuring that no-one is left behind,” it added.

Labour spokesman Lord Stevenson of Balmacara opened the debate by sying the House had previously asked for the USO to specify a download speed of 30Mbps, but the general election halted work on the issue.
He said the current USO plans contradict other government initiatives.
“Surely the architecture of the USO has to be consistent with the government’s productivity plan, the industrial strategy and the national infrastructure plan.

“The argument is that without some ambition the USO itself may become a constraint on all these important challenges,” he said.

Liberal Democrat Lord Foster of Bath said the current plans would see a continuation of the “digital divide”.

A ‘smokescreen’

Conservative backbenchers also expressed frustration, with Earl Cathcart complaining about the “appalling” speeds he receives at his home in Norfolk.
He told of being unable to download a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs report.

He added: “So I have to ring up my agent in Norwich, get him to print it out and send it to me in the post.

“That’s hardly 21st Century communications, but at least the post is reliable.”

In the same debate, crossbencher the Earl of Lytton called for a ban on using the term “up to” in advertised internet speeds, labelling them “a smokescreen of the first order” that allowed providers “to conceal poor performance”.

Digital minister Lord Ashton of Hyde said: “The USO has an important part to play in ensuring that no-one is left behind,” and the present minimum specification was being kept under review.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44378234

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

24 May 2018

Posted under

Rural communications, Rural communities

Truth in Broadband advertising

“From today, new advertising rules will force internet service providers (ISPs) to be more upfront about exactly how fast your connection should be. Previously, broadband providers could entice people with tantalisingly fast “up to” speeds so long as they were available to at least ten per cent of customers at any time of day. The new average speeds must be available to at least 50 per cent of customers at peak times – i.e. when you’re actually at home trying to stream Netflix in 4K or make a Skype call that doesn’t drop out every two minutes.

Take Sky Broadband as an example. It’s already adhering by the new Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) rules and as a consequence its 17Mbps service is now billed as 11Mbps. Add in the usual caveats of poor Wi-Fi signal, bad wiring and other interference and that number will fall further still. But honesty doesn’t address the underlying issue: the UK’s broadband infrastructure remains a cheap, outdated mess.

Think you’ve signed up to fibre broadband? Think again. Unless you’ve got fibre to the home, then your connection is actually a mix of fibre and copper – fibre all the way to the nearest roadside cabinet and copper up to your front door or building. So while everyone will now have to be (more) honest about speeds, they can still be economical with the truth when it comes to exactly how your home is hooked up.

And that makes a big difference. The UK’s fibre to the home infrastructure is so poor it’s out-performed by almost every other country in Europe (Latvia, with 50.6 per cent fibre coverage, ranks first in terms of market penetration). The number of fibre subscribers in Europe increased by 20.4 per cent to 51.6 million in 2017. Of the major European countries, Spain (17.5 million) and France (14.9 million) are the major success stories.

Across Europe, the number of fibre to the home and fibre to the building subscribers reached 51.6 million. In total, more than 148 million homes now have the ability to access such connections.

Part of that is down to the realities of bricks and mortar. Fibre to the home is easier to install in big apartment blocks, which are more commonplace on the continent than in the UK. The makeup of who runs and owns the infrastructure also plays a part. In the UK, that’s (mostly) Opeanreach, which until recently wasn’t keen on sharing. Recent regulatory changes mean it now has to let providers other than BT use its underground ducts and overhead poles to install their infrastructure. …”

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/uk-broadband-speeds-fibre-to-the-home