Information Research Weblog

While the British government is delighted at the news that one million people now have 'broadband' connection via cable (a very suspicious figure) and Margaret Hewitt the Minister for Trade and Industry came back from South Korea singing the praises of broadband, it is interesting to see why South Korea is so far ahead.

The difference is that dreaded concept for Tony Blair and the New Thatcherites - state intervention. The South Korean government actually built the fibre network and then encouraged telecom companies to compete with the former monopoly in the provision of services. Meanwhile back in the good old UK, British Telecom continues to drag its feet with its usual philosophy of "charge as much as the market will bear even if the market is minuscule as a result", and the cable companies fight bankruptcy.

Why is cable so crap in the UK? Cable runs past my house, but the company refuses to connect me at domestic rates, although the house next door, a business, has connection. In fact, as far as I can determine, no one in the vicinity has cable, unless they are a business, in spite of the network being installed. That seems to be at least part of the answer - the old chicken and egg problem: the companies can't make a profit until the network is pervasive and the network can't be fully activated until the companies are in profit.

For the South Korean experience read the New York Times (free subscription needed) or, directly at C|Net News.com