Delivering Britain’s Next Generation Broadband Infrastructure – High Fibre, Low Ping and Making the Most of a Connected Country

Key Points

• Paying and Laying - The NGN Deployment Challenge and Getting Our Ducts (and Poles) in Order
• Can't Connect, Won't Connect, Should Connect - Not Spots, Opt-Outs and Universal Service Commitments
• Putting Digital at the Heart of Business - Cultural Change + Broadband Infrastructure = The New Industrial Revolution

Britain’s NGN Deployment Challenge: Getting the Ducts (and Poles) in Order

Following the CMS Committee’s recommendation that BT must ‘put its house in order’ in relation to the service offered by Openreach, delegates will discuss the priorities for developing and investing in the UK’s next generation broadband network including the potential for opening up the network to competition, and the challenges and opportunities for the likes of Sky, Virgin Media and TalkTalk to deploy their own infrastructure.

________________________________________

Can’t Connect, Won’t Connect: Not Spots, Digital Opt Outs and Universal Service

Planned sessions will examine the how best to ensure the whole country and every citizen is given the opportunity to share in the enormous social, economic and cultural advantages that not only the web, but high speed web can offer. Attendees will look at the challenges facing providers (both mobile and fixed line) from providing reliable, high speed access to the final 10% of the country, collaboration between CSPs, Openreach, Local Councils, Mobile Operators and others in the supply chain as well as the extent to which Broadband truly is a utility (and the potential regulatory/legal implications of a reclassification). Discussions will consider how 5m people have never used the web, the demographics, the reasons and the potential advantages of staying offline and in the context of the consultation whether a Universal Service Obligation is the answer to ensuring everyone who wants can access t’internet.

________________________________________

A Digital First Britain: Cultural Change + Broadband Infrastructure = The New Industrial Revolution

What are the economic advantages for Britain of reliable, superfast, FFTx broadband – exactly what will it enable businesses to do now or in the future that will provide them with advantage?

Delegates will discuss the latest thinking on unlocking the potential, how businesses across sectors (from plumbers and restaurants to builders and schools) can utilise the new speed and capacity, how they will improve efficiency, operations and the office environment. Delegates will look at countries such as South Korea and Japan who have long had fast web access and the lessons that British business may be able to take as well as how businesses who (in a very stereotypical generalised way) may have at their helms older executives who are not necessarily overwhelmed by the coming revolution, can get outside influence and assistance in integrating technology across their businesses.