Home > About Ofcom > Corporate Structure and Governance > Advisory Committees for the Nations > Advisory Committee Scotland > Notes of meetings > 23 june 08

13|11|08

Meeting of the Advisory Committee for Scotland held in Macdonald Cardrona Hotel, Peebles on Monday, 23 June 2008

Present:

Thomas Prag - Chair ACS

Laura Alexander - ACS

Andrew Anderson - ACS

Andrew Muir - ACS

Julie Ramage - ACS

Philip Schlesinger - ACS

Andrew Jones - ACS

Fiona Ballantyne - Ofcom Consumer Panel Member for Scotland

Graham Howell - Ofcom

Vicki Nash - Ofcom Scotland

Alan Stewart - Ofcom Scotland

Moray Borthwick - Ofcom Scotland

Graham Howell - Ofcom

Clive Carter - Ofcom (items 1-6))

Anil Patel - Ofcom (items 1-6)

1. Apologies for absence: Mike Shaw, Neil Fraser and Joyce Taylor.

2. Minutes of previous meeting of 18 February 2008

2.1 Amendments to be made to 6.2 and 7.1 of the draft minute of the April ACS meeting and to 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5,1.8 and 2.1 of note of the discussion between the ACS and Ofcom Board on 28 April.

3. Matters Arising

3.1 Thomas Prag and Andrew Jones would be the ACS ’ representatives at the Ofcom strategy day.

3.2 The CMR findings for Glasgow would be discussed with Glasgow City Council, BT and the local enterprise company.

3.3 There would be a meeting with ministers on media literacy with Scottish ministers during the recess.

3.4 USO would be on the agenda for the next ACS meeting.

4. Director’s Report

4.1 BBC proposal for local online service – ACS was advised there would be a stakeholder event at Ofcom Scotland on 8 July as part of market Impact Assessment. A note of issues would be circulated.

4.2 Consideration would be given to having Alisdair Gunn (Wireless Innovation) to speak at a future ACS meeting.

4.3 Following a discussion of the outcome of the Creative Scotland Bill, it was decided to send a short letter to Scottish ministers expressing some concern.

4.4 ACS was interested in the coverage of the network offered by Hay Systems. This would be checked.

5. Next Generation Access

5.1 ACS was given a presentation outlining the latest issues on NGA. It was important to note broadband take-up continues to grow.

Another prominent issue was the distinction between actual and advertised broadband speeds – something that had been addressed in the voluntary code of conduct. However in the long term geography would remain an important factor with the further you lived from an exchange limiting speeds.

However the ACS was told that in the last year the UK has improved its international standing with significant upgrades announced by Virgin Media, and developments from smaller networks such as H2O’s proposal to route cables through the sewer networks of Bournemouth , Dundee and 15 other towns and cities. Moreover there was increasing use of fibre by Openreach in new build premises.

Ofcom has consulted on NGA twice before – in 2006 and 2007 – but with limited response. This changed substantially in the last six months where the level of interest and excitement has gone up, so it is right to continue with the principles of: securing sufficient investment and; promoting effective and sustainable competition. The ACS was told that regulation could have a role to play in moving to fibre and away from copper.

On whether ‘backhaul’ was resolvable, the ACS was advised that this would depend on developments in things like compression and storage.

The ACS were told to expect another document from Ofcom on NGA in September, one that would build on the public value focus established by the Broadband Stakeholders Group.

In response to a question, the ACS were told that Ofcom is technology neutral and does not define NGA, but options include fibre, upgrades to cable and wi-max.

On the future development of NGA, and whether targets should be set now for access – given that the public value is well established - the ACS were advised that there would be areas that are not commercially attractive for NGA, and that there were some benefits of waiting, such as technology choice – equipment in mass volumes and with clear standards.

It was felt more detailed research on how people are actually using broadband in rural areas would be advantageous, something that was suggested could be tied into Ofcom’s Access and Inclusion strand of work. It was also agreed that a letter be sent to the Ofcom chairman, highlighting ACS ongoing concern that some areas were certain to be ‘left behind’ and suggesting that Ofcom could be more proactive on their behalf.

Given similar concerns expressed in NI and Wales it was also suggested to the ACS that representatives from each nation’s advisory committee meet with Ofcom’s Director of Consumer Policy.

6. The Digital Home

6.1 The ACS were given a description of the ‘home hub’, including an explanation of how Ethernet cables are to be incorporated into televisions so for example applications such as the iPlayer can be used without a computer. A further example was the powerline socket used by BT vision, described as an easy and cheap method of distributing signals throughout the home.

It was suggested to the ACS that together, Ethernet and powerline are likely to be the two main devices for connecting technologies together. Operators are increasingly aware of the digital home, for example with Apple it is now no longer necessary to be able to use a PC to download content. Operators are also offering similar types of bundled products, although may be adopting different strategies.

The ACS were told barriers to the digital home include digital rights management (DRM), whether technologies are easy enough to use yet for the mass market, and also the difficulty operators still have in explaining what they offer.

The ACS felt there may be a problem for consumers who prefer separate providers, or indeed whether some really wanted a ‘digital home’ with such potential to intrude on their privacy. Robust controls would be necessary.

7. Scottish Broadcasting Commission Response

7.1 It was agreed that Julie Ramage would draft out a response for comment and a final version agreed by the Chair and Phillip Schlesinger would be submitted.

8. Digital Switchover

ACS were advised of developments from the perspectives of both the Scottish Consumer Council and Digital UK.

Andrew Anderson suggested that there was an opportunity to promote broader media literacy in the digital outreach project. Thomas Prag said this could be raised at the meeting with ministers during the recess. Andrew Jones asked about the sample size in research showing awareness of switchover. ACS discussed the switchover help scheme and was aware of some worries surrounding its implementation. Thomas Prag raised the issue of some viewers receiving fewer channels than others post switchover. ACS was advised that every viewer must get all PSB channels and it was not possible to connect up all the relay transmitters due to band restrictions. ACS agreed to refer to local TV and current spectrum issues arising out of the DDR and switchover in the submission to the SBC.

9. Digital Dividend Review Update

Alan Stewart gave details of Ofcom’s cleared spectrum consultations (closing date August 15) and the interleaved Spectrum consultation (closing date August 21).

Laura Alexander agreed to draft a response to the consultation, suggesting that some research be done on the possibilities of seventh multiplex.

10. Ofcom Consumer Panel – Fiona Ballantyne

10.1 ACS was shown a video highlighting the participants’ experience of using the internet and the differences it could make to peoples’ lives. Andrew Anderson felt that social services in Scotland could offer the same online services that were shown in the video. ACS discussed the cost-benefit analysis that can be done for investing in broadband and the links with other areas such as rural policy.

10.2 Fiona Ballantyne reported that the National Consumer Council had rated regulators and Ofcom had come out on top in Scotland according to all criteria.

11 Ofcom Contact Centre Information

11.1 Alan Stewart summarised the latest data showing the issues arising from contact with people with Scottish postcodes. In terms of total contacts, the statistics were in line with expectations. “Silent calls” was the top category of telecoms complaint while BT were still reporting high levels of mis-selling cases.

12. 21 st Century Network and Next Generation Access

12.1 ACS was advised that Britain leads the world in broadband availability and take-up – helped by BT, speeds were rising fast.

Based on experience of first generation broadband, commercial investment supported by genuine partnership across all sectors to drive demand for new applications and service could deliver a lot, but public sector intervention financially could not be ruled out, especially given the challenges of Scotland 's geography. An important issue now was raising general awareness and demand, and there is now a growing debate in Scotland for all of industry and the public sector to think more about the critical importance of ICT.

The ACS wondered if there were specific issues on the regulatory side that may hamper rural development, and also any possible role for the Scottish Government. There was a suggestion that any future provision may involve an alliance between government and industry.

The role of economic policy and the low levels of both PC ownership and broadband take-up in Glasgow were also discussed by the ACS. BT’s figures matched those recently published by Ofcom.

13. AOB

13.1 Arrangements for the stakeholder event later were discussed.

14. Date of Next Meeting and Schedule for 2008

14.1 Next meetings: 17 September, 15 December