Broadband Universal Service Obligation

Debate between Calum Kerr and Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

Thursday 15th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Calum Kerr]

I thank my hon. Friend, the other Callum in the House, for that excellent point. Telephony and IT used to be relegated to a subdivision of corporate structures but have now been elevated to board level. Exactly the same thing should happen to digital within Government.

With the forgiveness of other hon. Members, I will move on to some of my own specific points, simply for the sake of time—I am sure we are all dying to hear what the new Minister has to say. First, I agree that the USO is a good idea. I will agree with anything that puts more money into infrastructure and connectivity. The Government say their intention is:

“The design of the broadband USO must put people and businesses throughout the United Kingdom at its heart in order to secure the benefits of digital connectivity for as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.”

I wholeheartedly agree with that ambition, but question whether we are on the right track to meet it. In the same Department for Culture, Media and Sport document, the Government go on to say:

“The concept of universal service in telecoms is a long-standing principle, dating back over three decades”.

I also agree, to a point. But we are not talking about simple telecoms. Telephony is a binary service: it works or it does not. As we have heard very clearly, broadband is far more complex than that. I recognise that the Government, the DCMS and Ofcom understand that. A document produced alongside the Digital Economy Bill mentions upload, download, latency and other factors critical to the design of an effective USO. But there are still fundamental choices to be made about the design of the universal service obligation.

Ofcom’s summary of responses highlights two paths open to the Government. It says that respondents fall into two groups: those with a vision for a more highly specified service for all and those with a belief that people and businesses simply need a safety net. Are we talking about a vision or a safety net? My fear is—in fact, it is not even a fear, because it is clear—that to date the Government have talked about option two, a safety net.

Let us consider what the USO will look like if we stick to the current path. First, we have the fact that 10 megabits per second has been specified. We can argue whether that is the right speed. I firmly believe that it shows a lack of ambition, but I accept that some industry players say that at the moment it is fast enough. The Government need to raise the bar, particularly given their recent announcement in the autumn statement. As the hon. Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) said, 10 megabits will very quickly become out of date.

[Geoffrey Clifton-Brown]

When used with old-fashioned copper wires, 10 megabits can become a lot less than that. We need a superfast fibre infrastructure instead of copper wires.

[Calum Kerr]

I agree, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point.

The danger is that we are following a path similar to that taken in relation to BDUK. It is pragmatic about how much we can do for the money, instead of giving a vision of what we want to have, which is fundamental: critical infrastructure. There is also a real challenge about the ability of the USO to be upgraded. Yes it will be reviewed, and there were some excellent suggestions as to frequency, but I have serious doubts about how it is going to work.

Before I come on to that, let us talk about the telecoms elephant in the room: BT. Let us be clear that BT is the one provider that has said it will do the USO. There is a danger—if I can use that word—that it will all be given to BT. If that is the policy, so be it, but let us do it with our eyes open and be clear about whether that is the right thing to do. I can tell Members that not all my constituents would be particularly enamoured with that. We should all reflect on BT’s submission:

“Existing technologies such as Fibre to the Cabinet and new technologies like long reach VDSL can offer cost-effective solutions for a 10M service but would require further investment if the requirement increased significantly, e.g. to 30M.”

That highlights my point. If we settle for 10 megabits today, what happens when it gets upgraded to 30 megabits?

Let us consider another aspect to this: what does a universal service mean? The documents from Ofcom and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport do not hide the fact that it means something cost-constrained like the telephony USO, where a line can be installed up to the cost of £3,400 and thereafter one pays the difference. Imagine applying that in our constituencies, where the cost of broadband is significantly higher than that for telephony. Imagine I am in need of the USO. I have 2 megabits and upgrade to 10 megabits. I may have to pay, maybe I do not. What happens when we upgrade the service to 30 megabits? Do I have to pay again? Maybe I would have preferred to go to 30 megabits in the first place. There are fundamental flaws and traps ahead of us in terms of design.

The Government have choices. As I said, it feels like they are heading towards a safety net when they need to be more ambitious. Actually, was the autumn statement not a revelation? The Minister announced at the Broadband World Forum that fibre was the future and we all went, “Hurray! The Government get it!” In the autumn statement, they put some money where their mouth is. The broadband investment fund—granted, the previous Chancellor announced it—suddenly got £400 million. There was talk about a fibre spine backbone. What we have there is ambition.

The Robert Kenny report challenges assumptions about fibre and says: pick where to put in fibre first and do not do “blunt” FTTP—fibre to the premises. I think it lacks ambition in itself, but it is right in one regard: fibre has more impact in rural areas. In the Government schemes, I see absolutely nothing that will help rural areas. I see rural areas getting fobbed off with 10 megabits, whereas they should be getting fibre. If I am in an urban area with 30 megabits and go to 100 megabits, that would be fantastic but it will not change my life. If I am sat with 0.5 or 1 megabit, it would be transformational. The Government need to revisit the USO and show the same ambition.

I would like to make one final point about how this can be done. If we stick to the current path, the USO will mean nothing in Scotland—absolutely useless. We are aiming for 30 megabits. A 10 megabits USO might satisfy one or two, but that will be it. In the regions of England and in the devolved Administrations, it will mean very little. We can save the USO, however, by turning it into something more flexible—what David Cullen, chair of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association, said was a universal service opportunity. I put forward an amendment for vouchers. Vouchers would unleash the collective powers of our devolved Administrations and our country. I urge the Government to belatedly get behind that idea, because fibre is the future for rural as well as urban.