UK Broadband Taskforce

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UK Broadband Taskforce
A review of the UK approach to increasing the
availability of technology neutral broadband
access PETER CRAINE DIRECTOR
Brussels December 15, 2003
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UK GOVERNMENT BELIEVES THAT BROADBAND NETWORKS
ARE A KEY PART OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE NECESSARY TO
PROMOTE GROWTH AND INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY, AND TO
SECURE SOCIAL INCLUSION

• IN FEBRUARY 2001 THE GOVERNMENT PUBLISHED UK
  ONLINE THE BROADBAND
• FUTURE WHICH CONCLUDED-
• BROADBAND IS A VITAL PART OF THE FUTURE
  COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE
• THE UK WAS FALLING BEHIND INTERNATIONAL
  COMPETITORS, THUS PUTTING THE UK
• AT A POTENTIAL COMPETITIVE DISADVANTAGE
• WITHIN THE UK A RURAL-URBAN BROADBAND DIVIDE HAD
  DEVELOPED, WHICH WOULD
• DISADVANTAGE RURAL COMMUNITIES AND LIMIT THE
  GAINS TO THE UK AS A WHOLE.

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The UK Government has an objective for the UK to
have the most extensive and competitive broadband
market in the G7 by 2005.To achieve this, the
UK government has set an aggressive target of
increasing broadband availability .
Broadband Availability Current vs. Target
95.0
80.0
Current Availability (Q3 2003)
Target Availability
(2005)
Source DTI (October 2003)
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In the UK, market pressures alone will not
provide the range network capabilities and
broadband pervasiveness required - especially in
rural areas - leading to the need for Government
intervention
Current UK Broadband Availability Q32002
BTs Broadband - Not For 20 Years! BTs chairman
told the parliamentary select committee for
Culture, Media and Sport on Tuesday that rural
areas could be forced to wait between 10 and 20
years before they are offered high-speed Internet
services, unless the UK government makes a
significant financial contribution. Sir
Christopher Bland insisted that it simply is not
economically viable for BT to roll out ADSL to
parts of Britain that are sparsely populated --
both today and in the next few years.
Barriers to Nationwide deployment Low Economies
of Density High Equipment and Infrastructure
Cost Current Risk-Averse Financial Climate
Source Analsysys October 2003 Broadband in
Rural Areas Broadband Stakeholder Group
Submission to EFRA Committee (2003) Source
Rural Areas Face 20-year Wait for Broadband
ZDNet UK February 2002
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UK government intervention is an indirect
strategy which aggregates public sector demand
for broadband connectivity regionally, and uses
this to drive availability
Overview of UK Government Intervention
Widespread National Migration of Government
Bodies to Broadband Platform
Aggregation of Public-Sector Broadband Demand
IntelligentProcurement
Extent of UK Government Intervention
Key Aspects of Approach

• Creates demand for broadband infrastructure
  nation-wide
• Focus on/migration to e-government indirectly
  fosters citizen/businesses Internet uptake

• Aggregation of demand allows Government to secure
  broadband price reductions, acting as an added
  incentive for Government Bodies to join scheme
  and move to broadband

• Provides investment case for telecommunications
  companies to upgrade and extend the national
  broadband infrastructure and influence broadband
  deployment
• Widespread access to modern broadband
  infrastructure facilitates universal uptake

Source A.T. Kearney
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Main Government Broadband Initiatives

• Broadband for Schools
• Broadband for Health
• Broadband for Criminal Justice
• Total Public Sector expenditure of 1 billion by
  2005.

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The benefits of aggregation
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Definitions
Definitions
Aggregation
Consolidation

• Aggregation refers to bringing total broadband
  requirements of public sector customers in a
  given period into one procurement requirement to
  the suppliers
• Impact of Aggregation Availability and Value for
  Money
• What is Aggregated?
• Customer types
• Networking layers

• Consolidation refers to the reorganisation of the
  physical networks or pulling together two or more
  physical networks into one. Security and standard
  network SLAs are key features, which need to be
  resolved
• Impact of Consolidation Value for money
• What is Consolidated?
• Regional or national networks of several public
  sector organisations or within one public sector
  organisation (e.g. DfES)

GP Surgery
(1)
Other Public Sector Building
34mb?
Core
Aggregated into 1 procurement requirement
School
(1) Note one or more public or private networks
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An in-depth study of the East Midlands regions
indicated that the aggregation of public sector
demand can increase availability from 68 today
to 94
Impact of Public Sector Aggregation on
Availability in the East Midlands of England
Minor Role for Public Sector aggregation
Public Sector Role
100
98
100
94
Other
83
Private and public sector demand aggregation
Public sector demand aggregation
76
Public sector demand aggregation
Public sector demand aggregation
68
Impact on Broadband Availability, of Households
34 mbps
21-33 mbps
5-20 mbps
0-4 mbps
NA
Aggregated Public Sector Demand by Bandwidth Group
Source A.T. Kearney analysis, Marconi database
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Furthermore, initial analysis indicates a
potential to save at least 30 on connectivity
TBD
Consolidate regional and national networks
Current Estimate 30
Current Estimate 5
Overall savings opportunity
Savings Opportunity
Current Estimate 10
Only possible through broadband aggregation
Evaluation of alternative technologies
Current Estimate 20
Best price evaluation
Overlap 5
Value for Money savings categories
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UK solution
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Broadband Aggregation Project

• Create 9 RABs to aggregate and procure broadband
  regionally
• National AB consortium of RABs to act as
  national point of contact for those clients who
  prefer to deal centrally
• National AB will report into central board to
  ensure correct governance

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Regional aggregation is the best model to deliver
both value for money and availability

• Connectivity is best sourced on a regional basis
• Allows more active participation of smaller
  players and alternative technologies
• Increasing availability requires intimate
  knowledge of local issues
• Major customers are either regional organisations
  or procure their broadband at the regional level
• Regional Customers Local Authorities, Local
  Government
• Education Purchase Broadband through Regional
  Broadband Consortia (RBCs)
• Health A national integrator, but rolled out
  regionally
• Capturing demand requires strong local
  relationships
• Understand customer requirements and demand at
  the local levels
• Enlist additional local demand because they have
  the local relationships
• Efficiently match potential demand and broadband
  supply
• Political imperative to increase availability is
  organised regionally
• Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)
• Local Authorities (LAs)

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To meet the governments objectives, we developed
a 4 stage programme
Today
Aug-Dec 03
Jan-onwards 03
Mar-April 03
May-July 03
Strategy Phase
Design Phase
Implementation Phase
Operational Phase
1
2
3
4

• BAP Business Case
• Selected Option

• Project Set-Up
• RAB/NAB foundation model design
• Key Stakeholder Commitment
• Implementation Funding Committed
• RAB CEO Short List
• RDA Business Case Completion

• National/Regional Procurement Strategy
• BAP Framework Contract Process established and
  suppliers selected
• CEOs and line management recruited
• RABs/NAB established

• Business Plan implemented
• Framework contracts in place
• RABs operational
• Contracts novated

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The Vision Mission was formulated to ensure
delivery of increased availability and value for
money for the public sector in the UK
Vision

• To create an intelligent client procurement
  organisation, which brings various government
  departments together in executing broadband
  strategy and getting benefits of value for money

Mission
Facilitate achievement of the government target
to make the UK the most extensive and competitive
broadband market in G7 by 2005
Ensure value for money for individual government
departments expressed as the optimum combination
of whole-life cost and quality (or fitness for
purpose) to meet the users requirements
Enable the extension of broadband networks to
increase the availability to the public sector,
and to the wider community (as a result of public
sector aggregation)
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Regional Aggregation Bodies (RABs) aggregate
public sector demand with objective to achieve
value for money and to maximise availability for
remote and excluded areas

• Key Design Principles
• Clear objectives to deliver value for money and
  availability
• It serves the public sector only
• State Aid, Competition, Policy
• Regional Variations to the Foundation Model
  require a specific business case and is up to the
  regions to determine the level of risk and amount
  of funds they are willing to invest
• The RABs will not own assets
• Main reason is the Best Owner principle
• Simple and transparent governance allowing local
  autonomy within tight policy framework
• 1 Central Body (Policy Making Body )
• 1 National Aggregation Body (Operational Support
  Role)
• 9 Regional Aggregation Bodies
• Tight integration with existing regional projects
  and organisations
• Existing regional organisations can become
  Customers, Partners or Suppliers
• Always driven by customer demand

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The regional aggregation bodies have 3 main roles
as the Intelligent Client Aggregator, Solution
Developer, and Procurer

• Aggregate public service broadband demand
• Work with public service bodies to coordinate
  demand aggregation
• Manage relationships with key stakeholders

Aggregator

• Organise demand such that there is a maximisation
  of value for money and availability
• Use in-house expertise for network design and
  operations to select solutions that maximise both
  RAB objectives
• Advise RDAs on opportunities to maximise
  availability in the region through public service
  intervention

RAB (Intelligent Client)
Solution Developer

• Execute procurement process for tenders using
  several ways to market-mainly the OGC framework
  contracts
• Manage relationships with suppliers
• Monitor SLA performance and compliance

Procurer
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The foundation model focuses on the public
sector, however, there is scope for regional
variation
Moving towards the private sector is likely to
require answering 3 key questions
Questions to address
L
M
H
Risk Levels

• Is there a customer requirement to have a RAB
  variation?
• Is there a business case for moving towards the
  private sector?
• Is it legal for the RAB to undertake the required
  variation?

Services
d
d
d
Aggregation Scope
Foundation Model
Connectivity
Public
Private
Sectors Scope
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Lessons learnt from a rare example of effective
cross governmental co-operation

• Robust argument
• Policy objective everyone agrees with
• Clear, fact based, logical argument linking
  solution to policy objective
• Compelling business case
• Alignment of policy objectives and needs of key
  stakeholders
• Acceptance of divergent objectives of different
  ministries/stakeholders
• Search for common ground
• Very active engagement with stakeholders at all
  levels
• High level of Political Support and Leadership
• Commitment for support at highest level
  (Ministerial, Prime Ministerial)
• Managerial and technical leadership
• Flexibility of solution, without compromising
  core objectives
• Non-negotiable Foundation Model
• Clear framework for allowable development
• Tight and focussed programme management