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Get yourself connected - September 2010

September 1 and 15 are important dates for the region as our TV signals go digital and analogue is switched off. By all accounts the transition has been smoother than expected elsewhere in the country with minimal disruption.

Over recent weeks your Chamber has got involved in partnership activity related to another kind of digital change – that to broadband. The Chamber was pleased to support an initiative by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future (ACSEF) to investigate the issues related to broadband connection and connection speeds – especially in the Shire.

This month has seen the publication of a new report from Reform Scotland, titled “Digital Power”. The aim of the report is to “highlight the critical issues which must be addressed to ensure Scotland’s electronic communications infrastructure is fit for purpose in a digital world and is at the heart of Scotland’s social, economic and cultural future.”

Some of the findings in the report are:

• The Scottish Government has met its objective (over the last two sessions) of providing basic broadband connectivity (512k ADSL) to all homes in Scotland, but the service is patchy with distance from exchange and bandwidth sharing reducing the quality of service.

• Scotland is starting to fall behind some places in the UK in the provision of ‘superfast broadband’ largely due to distance and associated costs.

• BT has recently announced that it will put in the optic fibre investment to enhance ADSL – the so-called ‘Fibre to the Cabinet’ (FTTC) solution which links up the fibre optics to the green boxes in the street, but not to individual premises. This will give some improvement to 42% of premises, largely in the city centre but leaves many premises in suburban and rural locations with no real chance of improvement.

• There is clear evidence of increasing public sector investment being put in place to advance installation rates of progress, and to give competitive advantage to their own areas. Birmingham and Sunderland are well advanced and the Highlands, through HIE, are ahead of the game in Scotland.

• The recommendations of the report include: a Digital Scotland Framework and Strategy; appointing a Minister for Digital Scotland; and commitment to investment in a competitive digital infrastructure in Scotland

The report also indicates that the take-up of broadband in Scotland by household stood at 60% at the beginning of 2009, with the highest recorded being Aberdeen and Edinburgh at 72%, and the lowest in Glasgow with 39%. Aberdeen also has the highest take-up of mobile broadband at 15% (7% Scotland-wide). So, though Aberdeen city is comparatively well-provided, the broadband capacity across the suburban and rural parts of the City and Shire are not to the same standard and in danger of falling behind.

You will know that this matters for your business, especially if you have remote customers or suppliers, and the Chamber will be working with partners to try to get the maximum improvements for the lowest cost for this region.

You can access the report ‘Digital Power’ at http://www.reformscotland.com/include/publications/Digital_Power.pdf