Interim Digital Britain (reduced)

I've subbed Lord Carter's actions (taking a few liberties along the way)

ACTION 1
Broadband – we really hope suppliers can make it cheap and attractive enough for everyone to get “up to 2mb/s” of access; let’s see where we are by the final report before we get heavy with them.
ACTION 2
We’ll talk to suppliers about sharing pipes, ducts, cables, transmitters etc – we want broadband to be like gas and electricity; never mind who provides the actual bandwith, let’s have competition over billing.
ACTION 3
We’ve sorted out the issue of business rates for “Next Generation” connected offices etc, which is worth something – but there’ll be no other subsidies.
ACTION 4
If Actions 1, 2 and 3 don’t work, we’ll see if Gordon can let us have some other incentives to get everyone online.
ACTION 5
We’ll try to help existing local and community networks with technical support and advice
ACTION 6
· 2G operators have three months to come up with a new proposal for clearing this spectrum in the long term, probably involving trades of what they have to new areas – or we’ll impose something. After all, they got 2G practically free.
· The plan is to create 3G services on the radio spectrum we want to clear by moving to DAB (see Action 9)
· If you play ball, you might get indefinite licences….
· …if operators promise to help us get broadband to everyone, we might let them share pipes etc where we wouldn’t before….
· .. and we want 3G coverage to match existing 2G coverage.
ACTION 7
When we bounced the BBC in helping with Digital Switchover, we forgot to ask them to help with return path capability – so can we have that now, please ?
ACTION 8
When we bounced the content providers into providing free house ads for Digital TV and Radio, we forgot to add the line about “connectivity” that goes with return path capability – so can we have that as well, please ?
ACTION 9
We’ve got to make DAB work (see Action 6 above)
· so stop arguing about it; it’s here to stay
· we need to get 50% of all radio listening as “digital”; we need to demonstrate that DAB matches FM nationally; and “local” DAB (new to this reader – probably fill-ins) covers 90% of the population and roads
· as if there aren’t enough groups working on this, we’ll set up a Digital Radio Delivery Group
· We’ll strong-arm the BBC again, to see if they’ll add a few more DAB transmitters
· We’ll produce some figures to prove this is all worthwhile – at least to the Government
· We haven’t mentioned community radio for a bit, and they keep nagging us, so if they promise to stop, we’ll try to get them 5 year licences, and maybe loosen up the funding rules.
· We’re not sure what to do about “local” radio when we biff FM, so we’ll get someone else to look at it (See Action 14).
ACTION 10
How do we encourage creativity ? Let’s leave it to the final report. Alternatives to advertising funding for content ? Final report stuff…
ACTION 11
Copyright issues also too hard at the moment.. anyone got any ideas ?
ACTION 12
And if we do produce copyright suggestions, we recognise they’ll have to be policed in some way (..we haven’t thought of yet)
ACTION 13
Internet Service Providers will have to sort out illegal downloaders, and create secret lists of serial offenders we can send to the big film companies.
ACTION 14
Between ourselves and Ofcom, we’re not really sure how to protect regional and local news services – whether tv, radio or online – but suspect we’ll have to allow much more cross-ownership.
ACTION 15
We haven’t mentioned indies, and we’re at Action 15. We’ll have a think…
ACTION 16
We’ll try to sort out Channel 4 by final Digital Britain Report, if they haven’t sorted it themselves by then – but it’ll probably be Mandelson’s call. .
ACTION 17
We haven’t quite got a vision-thing, but we think Universal Service Commitment sounds like a good title for something.
ACTION 18
And we’ll make people pay according to their means... ok, Gordon ?
ACTION 19
Very few documents get this far without mention of inclusion, so we’ll appoint a Digital Inclusion Champion. Dyke ?
ACTION 20
When we said we wanted the BBC to help with all this (see Actions 7,8,and 9 above) we really meant it.
ACTION 21
After inclusion, accessibility, Please make broadband easy to use.
ACTION 22
..and education. We need a plan – a new National Media Literacy Plan.