The bit commons- an introduction (a work in progress)..
The need to outline and agree service sets as part of defining the first Universal high speed access to the Internet has been outlined
here. It achieves a base level for all. A common understanding about the nature of the UK Data Transport is needed, and we need to stop using words like 'up to' and 'unlimited', or fixed and mobile. It's just connectivity. To understand the limits of what is possible we need to understand the planning rules for the services on offer.
Analysing the constraints such as backhaul costs (peak hour bandwidth per user) and quality (latency and packet loss), many of the constaints are driven by design decisions and the need to sustain legacy services and legacy business models. The latter is not entirely fair, because multiple services sharing a common data transport mechanism cannot have the same performance as one service hosted on a specifically designed network. But next generation services should not be emulations of past services but should encompass plans for new and better services.
It was hoped that the final Digital Britain report of June 2009 would show that our Universal access would constitute a merging of fixed and mobile connectivity options. This is not referenced. Mobile connectivity is functional. It's job is to keep you connected and do the essentials of messaging, browsing, and lots of mini applications receiving updates. You can talk and you can sample video streams. The fixed connectivity is higher quality and permits you to do more file transfers, streaming and multi-media communications. The set of applications is the same but the pattern of consumption is different - essentialy longer sessions supporting bigger volumes of data and more quality. We get the connectivity we need where we need it for applications to work in a predictable, consistent way. Hence our connectivity does not need to have this divide between fixed and mobile. This divide is by design, it is not something we have to endure for ever. It is something that the engineering and regulatory community could re-define as a single data transport fabric.
Getting new fiber access may be not the emotional matter it is now. If the potential of high speed data connectivity is fully appreciated of which access to the Internet is one example, then the regulatory environment will need to be put in place to support the transfer of legacy fixed and mobile voice services to be re-defined as something you do with your connectivity. This may lead your terminating device to act as a Mobile access node in your home. The notion of fixed and mobile looks dated, one is an extension of the other. Your access creditentials on the home hub will be the same as when you on the move. The service by necessity is more synchronous in nature. The mobile communications service constrained by the size of the device carried will be transformed on reaching a fixed location into a richer experience.
The re-inventing and merging of fixed and mobile legacy voice services demands a signifcant review of the regulatory market definitions. A good deal of regulatory policies is about sustaining existing services into perpetuity. The potential of our connectivity says differently. It demands operators are free to re-invent legacy services as applications and be encouraged to do even more if costs have to re-balanced. Although the spectrum brokers (ISB) report has taken the first necessary initial step in recognising the need for universal Internet access, it needs to go further and recogise that mobile and fixed need not be separate subscriptions but extensions of one another. The ISB report should also offer an alternative to the specctrum auction process and outline the consequencies of all operators sharing a wide set of frequences, where an underlying common data transport infrastructure could be retailed competitively.
The issue of backhaul constraints which is a function of bandwidth costs needs addressing. The Ofcom supported Analysys Mason report on
delivering Video suggests that the current bandwidth costs will be overcome reducing costs from a headline of £80 per Mbps to £5 per Mbps. Why do we have to wait 6-10 years? Bandwidth has a real cost but the bandwidth scarcity myth gathers credence when it appears the reductions are a matter of time.