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Responses to Jeremy Hunt's Open Letter on the Communication Review
Alison Powell
Is the current mix of regulation, competition and Government intervention right to stimulate
investment in communications networks?
The government needs to properly define lightweight rules that ensure that next generation networks as
well as internet services are accessible to a wide range of potential innovators, including the digital
media sectors mentioned in Question 12.
What barriers are there to innovation in new digital media sectors, including video games, telemedicine, local television and education?
Videogames and tele-medicine innovations depend on being able to access robust, open, NGA
networks and high speed broadband networks. If the UK is perceived as favouring incumbent operators
or not protecting net neutrality, it will become less attractive to these industries. The video game and
visual effects industries, in particular, depend on access to open networks.
Where has self- and co-regulation worked successfully and what can be learnt from specific
approaches? Where specific approaches haven’t worked, how can the framework of content
regulation be made sufficiently coherent and not create barriers to growth, but at the same time
protect citizens and enable consumer confidence?
While growth is important to securing the UK's financial future, the Communications Act must also
ensure that it secures the rights of citizens. In the current regulatory environment, the interest of
citizens is largely described in terms of their interests as consumers. This description stresses the
passivity of consumers For example, the initial response to calls for open and neutral networks in the
UK has, in contrast to the Net Neutrality laws passed elsewhere in the UK, has focused primarily on
informing consumers of the limits to their communication services. This creates a paradox in which
operators transparently inform consumers of the limits of their broadband services (Powell and Cooper,
forthcoming). The Ofcom board has on more than one occasion affirmed the importance of ensuring
that consumers are informed about the speed limitations of their broadband connections. Ultimately
though the interests of consumers and citizens are not well served as it is not possible in the UK, in
contrast to other markets, to access a truly open broadband service (Powell and Cooper, forthcoming)
One of the foundations of contemporary innovation has been the rise of the 'pro-sumer' – or producerconsumer who is empowered to participate in creation of services. This idea, at the heart of the ideals
of the Big Society, extends into the new media realm as well. Bruns (2009) identifies that in new media
environments, participants become 'prod-users' who can contribute to the media environment.. These
citizen practices can form the backdrop to an innovative economy based on new internet-based
applications, according to Bruns. Yet the fact that all operators in the UK manage or throttle the internet
in some way limits this potential. Potential web entrepreneurs must contend with a range of internet
services where their access to their future customers is hidden by a set of ISP terms and conditions. The
only way to address this potential barrier to innovation is to establish real baselines for net neutrality in
which it is possible to access broadband internet access that is free from control over applications used,
source, and destination of internet traffic.
In order to create an environment more conducive to growth, citizens need to see that their actions are
supported by the government, and that they can take advantage of open next generation access without
fear of unfounded disconnection. In other words, they need to be treated as citizens, and facilitated in
enjoying their rights to communicate in ways that will also contribute to an open, dynamic new media
economy.
References
Axel Bruns. "From Prosumer to Produser: Understanding User-Led Content Creation." Paper
presented at Transforming Audiences, London, 3-4 Sep. 2009.
Alison Powell and Alissa Cooper (forthcoming 2011) “Discourses of Net Neutrality: Comparing
Advocacy and Regulatory Arguments in the US and the UK” The Information Society.
Von Hippel, Eric (2005) Democratizing Innovation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press