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Connecting Scotland our broadband future: Making it Happen
ANNEX A - background
CONNECTING SCOTLAND: OUR BROADBAND FUTURE, August 2001
1. To address the issue of local access to affordable higher-speed telecoms services, we published Connecting Scotland: our broadband future at the end of August 2001 ( www.scotland.gov.uk/digitalscotland/publications.htm ). The strategy has three main strands:
- A programme to progressively aggregate public sector demand for broadband infrastructure - building out from the needs of schools, local authorities and the health service - with Executive support concentrated in areas which would otherwise be demand deficient. It was argued that the aggregation of public sector demand for telecoms services might be a means of levering further investment from telecoms suppliers into areas where speculative build would not be commercially justified. This approach was to be tested in two Pathfinder areas - the Highlands & Islands and the South of Scotland (Dumfries & Galloway and the Borders). The aim, as set out in the strategy, was to exploit our legitimate power as major purchasers of services to stimulate improvements in broadband services to the wider benefit of businesses and individuals.
- Identification of direct intervention measures. The strategy acknowledged that aggregated procurement would only be a part of the solution and that we should continue to review the need and scope for direct intervention in order to promote roll-out. The strategy referred to the scope offered by the ERDF transitional funding programme in the Highlands & Islands under which EUR 9 million had already been earmarked for infrastructure enhancements in remoter areas.
- Regulatory & UK policy liaison. The third strand of the strategy stemmed from our awareness that telecoms developments in Scotland could not be divorced from wider UK regulatory and policy developments, and that it would be important to engage with this wider forum in order both to influence it and to maximise Scottish benefits.
2. Our broadband strategy was based on the evidence of the Scottish market. Research by Ovum for Scottish Enterprise in 2000 showed Scotland's telecoms infrastructure as relatively advanced in terms of backbone but with some weaknesses in terms of junction links to the islands and other remote areas. At a local level, BT's legacy infrastructure dominated, with its heavy dependence on copper.
3. It was also clear that competition was mainly confined to urban areas in order to ensure a return on capital investment in infrastructure build. Despite UK market liberalisation, rural areas of Scotland were yet to see the end of monopoly provision. Although this situation was mitigated in the Highlands & Islands through a decade of intervention by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in partnership with suppliers and using European funds, the future competitiveness of the region was threatened by the advent of broadband and, in a depressed market, the lack of likely deployment of such services to the area. The South of Scotland was generally recognised to be the worst in terms of current and future commercial telecoms infrastructure provision.
4. It was evident that, left to the commercial market, access to affordable broadband services would not extend far beyond urban areas in Scotland in the short to medium term. Any Executive strategy to promote wider access to affordable services would, however, have to take into account regulatory constraints, and the risk that any intervention might disrupt the market adversely, making it dependent on subsidy for further investment.
ANNEX B - coverage map
ANNEX C - glossary of terms
ADSL | Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. A technology that enables broadband services to be transmitted over standard copper telephone lines and is one of a variety of formats usually referred to, collectively, as xDSL. ADSL is optimised for the provision of Internet services and provides more bandwidth in the downstream direction than in the upstream direction, i.e. it is asymmetric. The provision of ADSL requires local telephone exchanges and end-users to be upgraded with suitable equipment. ADSL can provide downstream bandwidths of 2Mb/s and upstream bandwidths of 512kb/s, but there are distance dependent limitations. |
BACKBONE/TRUNK | A high-capacity network that links together other networks of |
NETWORK | lower network capacity, usually local area networks. |
BACKHAUL | The transport of data traffic to a point from which it can be distributed over a backbone network. |
BANDWIDTH | Also known as 'capacity'. In simple terms, how much information or traffic can be carried on the telecoms infrastructure in a given amount of time. |
BROADBAND | Strictly speaking 'broadband' is defined as a telecommunications link allowing transmission at 2 Mbit/s or higher. The term is, however, often used as shorthand to describe any form of fast Internet access. |
CABLE MODEM (CM) | A method of connecting computers to the Internet via a cable TV operators network. |
e-BUSINESS/e-COMMERCE | e-Business (electronic business) refers to all business processes that use Internet technology to operate more efficiently. e-Commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. |
FIBRE OPTIC | A transmission medium consisting of a core of glass or plastic, which guides the light pulses that carry voice or data signals. Optical fibre carries much more information than conventional copper wire. |
FWA | Fixed Wireless Access. Also known as Wireless Local Loop, it refers to a wireless access connection using radio. |
ISP | Internet Service Provider. Organisations that provide individuals and businesses with access to the Internet, (including commercial web sites). |
KBITS/S (Kilobits per second) | A measure of data capacity. 1000 kilobits = 1 Megabit |
LAN | Local Area Network: A high-speed communications system designed to link computers and other data processing devices within a small geographic area. |
LEASED LINE | A leased line is a telecommunications link that has been leased for private use. Typically, large companies rent leased lines from the telecoms operators to interconnect different geographic locations in their company with both data and voice services. |
MBITS/S (Megabits per second) | A measure of data capacity. |
MODEM | A device that translates the digital signal from a computer into analogue signals that can travel over a standard telephone line. |
PCT (Powerline Carrier Technology) | Technology which provides the ability to send digital communication signals over electrical infrastructure. |
PoP (Point of Presence) | An access point to the Internet or the physical connection point within a carrier network at which one network operator can hand traffic onto the network of another. |
2-WAY SATELLITE | An Internet connection whereby the upstream (outgoing) and the downstream (incoming) data are sent from and arrive via a satellite. |
VPN | Virtual Private Network. The provision of private voice and data networking via a public switched network, without actually involving a permanent physical connection. |
xDSL | An umbrella term for the next generation of digital subscriber line technologies which allows high-speed broadband communications over existing copper wires. |
ANNEX D - contact details
Telecoms Policy Team
The Scottish Executive
Meridian Court
5 Cadogan Street
Glasgow G2 6AT
Tel: 0141 242 5556
Fax: 0141 242 5589
E-mail: broadband@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/lifelong/csbf-00.asp
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