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European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 19 November | 164 comments (164 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Serious People^TM conventional wisdom that dictates that:
Broadband is a luxury item, not a basic utility like water, electricity or sanitation

Spain clearly doesn't have a "serious" Industry Minister...

El acceso a Internet de un mega será un derecho a partir de 2011 · ELPAÍS.com		1Mbps internet access will be a right [in Spain] after 2010 - ElPais.com
Las compañías, a través de su asociación Redtel, ya han manifestado su rechazo a la medida. Entienden que, una vez más, el Gobierno extiende derechos a sus expensas como ha ocurrido con la reciente obligación de identificar las tarjetas prepago, promovida por el Ministerio del Interior, pero sufragada por las operadoras.		[Telecom] firms, through their [industry] association Redtel, have already voiced their rejction of the measure. They claim that, once again, the Government extends rights at their costs, as it happened with the obligation to identify pre-paid cards [pay-as-you-go mobile], promoted by the Ministry of the Interior but paid for by the operators.

Never mind that the obligation to identify pay-as-you-go customers comes from the EU and has nothing to do with consumer rights but with State security concerns...

El ministro de Industria, Miguel Sebastián, que hizo el anuncio en la inauguración del III Foro Internacional de Contenidos Digitales (Ficod), no ayudó a despejar las dudas, y se limitó a indicar que, dependiendo del interés que exista por parte de las empresas para ser designadas como operadora del servicio universal, se convocarán los concursos necesarios por elementos y zonas geográficas.		[Spain's] minister of Industry, Miguel Sebastián, who made the announcement at the opening of the 3rd Internation Forum on Digital Content (Ficod), didn't help to dispel doubts, and limited himself to indicating that, depending on the interest on the part of [Telecom] firms to be designated as universal service operators, there will be the necessary tenders [broken down] by elements and geographical areas.
Al margen de las quejas, la medida puede servir para revitalizar el mapa de la banda ancha en España, donde sólo el 11% de los internautas abonados disfrutan de una velocidad superior a los 10 megas. Una triste realidad si se compara con países como Japón, donde la velocidad comercial es 100 Mbps, a un precio de 34 euros mensuales, por el que aquí se consiguen, con suerte, 3 megas.		Complaints aside, the measure may serve to revitalize Spain's broadband map, where only 11% of the population enjoys a speed above 10 Mbps. A sad reality compared with countries such as Japan, where the commercially available speed is 100Mbps at a price of €34 a month, for which [in Spain] one gets, with luck, 3Mbps.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Nov 19th, 2009 at 06:16:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Nitpick (none / 0)

The pay-as-you-go applies to mobile phone SIM cards, not residential broadband, no?
And yes, governments are always eager to keep tabs on who is using these tools, for our own security, of course...

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

by Bernard on Thu Nov 19th, 2009 at 06:41:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Nitpick (none / 0)

Bernard:

The pay-as-you-go applies to mobile phone SIM cards, not residential broadband, no?

Yes, but the TelCos are the same...

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Nov 19th, 2009 at 06:44:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Nitpick (none / 0)

The UK is aiming for a nominal 1MB base, but BT is rolling out 'up to 20MB' for most of the UK over the next few years. It's due here in 2011 - here being very uncentral, and not a priority area. 20MB - more like 8-10MB in practice - will be good enough for another decade or so.

I'd like to know how widespread Japan's famed 100MB really is. 100MB in urban areas is not that special - you can find it in parts of London.

As a revealing indicator, I'd be more interested in the baseline service on Japan's less central islands.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Thu Nov 19th, 2009 at 06:45:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Nitpick nitpick (none / 0)

You mean Mb/s, not MB. Quite different units.

by njh on Thu Nov 19th, 2009 at 03:47:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 19 November | 164 comments (164 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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