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PRIME MINISTER Report from the e-Minister and e-Envoy - July 2003 Since we last wrote to you there has been good progress towards fulfilling our target of having the most extensive and competitive broadband market in the G7 by 2005. The UK has moved from 4th to 3rd for competitiveness, overtaking the USA. (Source: Analysys Consulting) The latest broadband figures tell a promising story. By the end of May 2003, there were over 2 million broadband subscribers, with the number of new connections rising at around 30,000 a week. This represents more than a threefold increase in subscribers since the same time last year. Over one hundred Internet Service Providers now offer ADSL services. BT has now enabled 1,322 exchanges for ADSL, which is available to 69% of UK homes and businesses. (Source: Oftel's Internet and Broadband Brief: June 2003). Stimulating broadband rollout across the UK remains a priority for the Government. In May, a new Rural Broadband Team was created within the DTI to help move the agenda forward through joint working with DEFRA and the RDAs. Their role will be to identify ways of accelerating progress towards more extensive broadband access in rural communities. The Team will identify strategies for areas that the market alone will be unlikely to serve. They will also be looking at supporting communities through improved information flows and toolkit development in their efforts to bring broadband to their local areas. The UK Broadband Task Force is developing the Broadband Aggregation Project to aggregate public sector demand for broadband, ensuring that the Government's own expenditure on broadband connectivity provides more broadband access for the citizen and thereby a cost-effective way of meeting the Government's availability objective. This is particularly relevant for more rural and remote areas, where deployment by private sector companies is less economically viable. The Broadband Aggregation Project operates within the policy framework set out by the Ministerial Steering Group, chaired by Stephen Timms. Design of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) - the legal entity specially created to act as the vehicle to aggregate demand and secure best value for money for its clients - is underway. The model for 9 regional SPVs and a central SPV to aggregate demand at a national level, if required, are being presented to stakeholders and their feedback is being incorporated. A final piece of news on the broadband front concerns the Radiocommunications Agency's successful June auction of wireless broadband licences at 3.4GHz. After 41 rounds all fifteen licences were sold to three bidders, Poundradio Ltd, Red Spectrum Ltd and Public Hub Ltd. Many more consumers - including those in areas currently without ADSL or cable - will now be able to benefit from fixed wireless broadband access. The second focus for this month's report is the DTI consultation on the implementation of the EU directive on Privacy and Electronic Communication which closed on June 19. Key provisions in the directive aim to tackle one of the daily nuisances faced by internet users: spam. Recent research suggests that spam (unsolicited commercial email) continues to grow at an alarming pace. Indeed, it is estimated that as much as 40% of global email traffic consists of spam - clogging up users' inboxes and detracting from legitimate email communication and business uses of the internet. The directive, which must be implemented in the UK before the end of October, effectively outlaws spam within the EU by making unsolicited commercial email illegal unless the email recipient has given their prior consent. Except where there are existing customer relationships, people will have to be given the choice to 'opt-into' unsolicited communications. While we recognise that spam is a global phenomenon, implementing these regulations across Europe is a valuable step in the right direction. During June Microsoft filed 13 lawsuits in the United States against senders of unwanted commercial emails to Microsoft customers. This is in addition to 2 lawsuits in the UK for illegal "harvesting" of customer e-mail addresses and other illegal spamming practices under the UK Misuse of Computers Act of 1990. A 'Spam Summit' on 1 July organised by the All Party Internet Group and addressed by Stephen Timms, and representatives of the EU and the US Government, attracted widespread media comment. Other provisions in the EU directive include new requirements which aim to protect individual privacy. Cookies and other tracking devices commonly used by websites to improve the user experience will be subject to new transparency requirements. Sites using cookies will be obliged to provide information about them and should give individuals the choice to refuse them if they wish, unless the service in question cannot be provided without them. As a whole the directive reaffirms the confidentiality of electronic communications which may only be intercepted for national security, law enforcement, and certain essential business purposes.
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