The UK Government said: "The aim of the auction was to see the licences in the hands of the operators best able to take advantage of them, and to see consumers - including those in areas currently without ADSL or cable - benefit from fixed wireless broadband access."

It looks as if the countryside will be disappointed, because the winning bidder for most of the UK has had to make no such undertaking. All they had to do was offer the most money.

Edited by author 06-26-2003 07:55 AM
It has happened so many times before it’s not surprising its happened again. The bidders are only looking for the fastest buck for the lowest effort. The Government only want to fill their coffers. We the people in the countryside who fight to keep our communities and rural industries together are let behind.

When will the Government accept one way to get the rural economy going is by investing in technology and infrastructure that allows rural businesses to work efficiently and effectively? It may take public money to prime the pump, but the return will be far greater in the longer term.

Derek Thomas - Editor Warmington Village Web

Is it entirely hopeless? I still entertain the idea of setting up a Wireless ISP in my locale (using 3.4GHz kit for my 'backbone'), and I'm trying to contact PCCW with the idea of them leasing/sub-letting/loaning (pick one) the 'rights' to my chosen postcodes. I am heartened that Guy seems to imply that the idea is a good one, but it is discouraging that there is so little feedback from these people. Ah well, back to contracting...

The 3.4GHz licence issue was , in my opinion, doomed from the start. It was only ever going to be purchased by speculators with big wallets just like 3G licenses :|

Still, a lot can and is being done with 802.11b/g/a and 802.16 etc.. for access and of course there is always privately licensed radio spectrum for linking nodes together.

Instead of trying to bring Leased lines to rural areas at considerable cost, we have opted to setup a 24 and 56 GHz point to point linking infrastructure (like the mobile phone guys) as well as a splashing of optical in some areas.

This infrastructure when its finished will allow us to pipe in data directly from our partners Points of Presence even if they are 100 miles away :)

Daisy chained Ad-Hoc networks such as some companies are rolling out are ,in my professional opinion, doomed due to security ,throughput and reliability issues.

For us 24/7 always on, fast and secure should mean just that else we are wasting ours and our customers time.

cheers

Bill Lewis
Managing Director
Kijoma Internet Services
Rural Broadband Providers
Div of Kijoma Solutions Ltd