FROM THE INDUSTRY
What’s your approach to digital inclusion?
Were you always interested in tech? I actually wanted to be a pilot when I was young. I grew up reading books about flying ‘derring do’ and World War II. I applied to the RAF but wasn’t selected for pilot officer training, sadly, but so few were that I wasn’t too disheartened. Later in life, I obtained my helicopter PPL, so I scratched the itch. I’ve always been interested in science and engineering. When I was in primary school I was at jumble sales buying cameras, radios and televisions and taking them apart. I remember spending a lot of time in the shed with my dad fixing pushbikes and motorbikes or renovating cars. As I say, my first job was in electronics with a company called Cabletime, one of the first cable tech suppliers. Frankly, I hadn’t got much of a clue what I was doing, but I was initially sat on a bench fixing set top boxes. Honestly, I knew so little that I pretty much unsoldered and replaced every component until it worked. And then I thought, what about if I worked in the design department? I reckon I could understand that more easily. And then what about if I have ago in the R&D department? And so it went on… And that’s turned out to be the pattern of my career, always hungry to learn new things and try the next challenge.
same investor. It’s simpler and more likely a paper transaction.
So, there will be an early wave so far but not the great ‘crunch’ that many predict. With companies seeking paths to profitability and to avoid crystalising losses, I think things will remain gradual unless an altnet is in real distress. It does depend on whom you speak to. There are a lot of moving parts to this. It does. My underlying concern is the amount of overbuild in an industry that’s been uncoordinated - a free-for-all - which simply destroys capital! A small market town like Henley-on-Thames, 6-9 months in the planning, mobilisation and build may ultimately be supporting 3-4 operators. There just won’t be enough customers to go around. Mostly, it happened by accident - once an operator commits to an area the momentum is high and then they’re falling over each other. Once other consolidation challenge is that this overbuild means that adjacent operators, logistically easier to combine, may have part-overbuilt one another. Not very useful. Plus you have to consider network and service offering standardisation, and of course, the complex integration of disparate home- grown IT stacks. Some smaller altnets just might not justify this overhead and would be valued accordingly. Would you say the altnet model is intrinsically flawed? I think it was probably a flawed process. But people do/will need what fibre brings, I maintain that infrastructure competition is key, and both innovation and momentum were lacking from the incumbents. But in this case, the free market has proved very messy and now we’ll see companies that go bust, companies that merge and companies that win. The standard industry lifecycle. My main concern though is that large pockets of the UK will remain with no provider, or just Openreach funded by government vouchers. I see this as a bigger failure, although I’m hopeful about new technologies to fill the voids if capital remains elusive.
Bringing the infrastructure to those people who wouldn’t otherwise get it is the first step. There’s still one in five homes that can’t get access to decent broadband in the UK. Secondly, you need to make it affordable. I don’t think there is a long term ‘fibre premium’ to be had so existing copper pricing is the guide. In Wales we deal with some deprived areas, so affordability is key. But so is digital literacy and digital confidence, which we support via community hubs, education programmes, charities and institutions. Do you find there is a resistance to it from people who are afraid of the technology?
There’s a significant part of our potential customer base that just doesn’t want it.
They will tell you, “I’ve not got a computer, I’ve not got a smartphone at all. I’ve just got a home phone. What do I want you for?” But imagine the impact of that on their lives now: obtaining a passport, a driving licence, parking their car, booking a holiday. These are all activities that have moved to apps and online and many of us take for granted, yet a large slice of the UK population aren’t accessing them. Government really does have a role to play if we’re to lessen digital poverty. But it’s important we understand our role in this to drive up adoption and utility - and to take the time to help Welsh people get comfy with the new technologies.
May 2025 Volume 47 No.2
35
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker