UK population to be guaranteed mobile 768Kb/sec service The government has endorsed the plan to pass organisation of the digital dividend mega auction back to Ofcom, with universal service guarantees, and promises a new-for-old deal for the Programme Makers and Special Events (PMSE) crowd. Minister for Communications Ed Vaizey drafted a statutory instrument covering the plan, which …
So the guarantee is there for the 90% who live in the 10% of the UK land area covered by major towns and cities - what about the other 10% who live outside the larger towns? With government trying to deliver as many services as possible electronically they will soon assume that everyone (well, everyone who matters) will have mobile broadband - and tuff to the rest of us. 99% coverage would be a rather better target to aim for.
Interestingly, in terms of access to public services, we accept the need to ensure disabled access to buildings with ramps, lifts etc ( and a jolly good thing too) - but in fact only about 1% of the UK population is in a wheelchair.
... that there's to be "generous compensation" to the entertainment industry.
How generous will be very interesting indeed. As generous as the amount needed to fund pensioners' bus passes? Or as generous as a school building programme?
Isn't the entertainment industry, or at least parts of it, meant to be a great British success story? So why can't the wealthier bits of it help the poorer bits out with new radio mic.
>> Isn't the entertainment industry, or at least parts of it, meant to be a great British success story? So why can't the wealthier bits of it help the poorer bits out with new radio mic.
I don't think you understand the scale or scope of the problem. We aren't talking about a few high profile, well off, big businesses here (though there will be a handful of those). The "entertainment industry" is huge, fragmented, and diverse - ranging from some big production companies with large amounts of equipment (and probably in a position do do something for themselves) right down to village drama groups and even the village pub with a radio mike for the quizmaster on pub quiz nights.
The enforced change isn't being done for on on behalf of anyone in the "entertainment industry" - it is being done for an on behalf of big business and the UK Treasury. Big business sees a way to make money from having some of our (currently) TV spectrum, and the UK Treasury sees a way to make money by selling (or renting) it to them. The "entertainment industry" are being told to move to make way for them.
Your proposal is a bit like driving a new motorway through a town - and expecting everyone with an expensive house to pay not just for their own move (buy a new house, get nothing for the one the road builders knock down), but also pay for those with cheaper houses to move.
The fair way to do it is to expect the road builder to buy peoples old houses and/or support them in their move. The road builder can then fund that by charging the people who will benefit from the road - ie the road users.
What's being proposed (as I read it) seems quite fair - people have to move, so OfCom (or someone they law the cost with) will have to swap out equipment. The equivalent is that when the road builder wants to knock down your house, they will swap your current house for an equivalent alternative at no cost to you.
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