Headlands and Hereditiments

A curious title for this post perhaps, but it sums up the breadth and diversity of last week's Digital Dales Colloquium held at the Timico HQ in Newark.

Never having been to one of these events before, I was a little unsure of what to expect. I can honestly say that whatever it was I hoped I would find there, it was exceeded by a country mile. Lots of folks from industry, alternative broadband schemes,action groups, local government and of course the community. All of them ready and eager to share their experiences, offer advice and point you in the direction of real practical assistance. This was no talking shop - the folks there want action and many have already demonstrated they can deliver it, in the face of what must have often seemed to be pretty insurmountable odds. So a big vote of thanks to all those who organised the event and those who participated.

As mentioned at the beginning, the agenda was wide ranging and covered everything from the 1601 Poor Relief Act of Elizabeth, to a highly practical approach to installing optical fibre runs in an environmentally friendly way approved by the Environmental Stewardship Scheme. This involved the use of a tremendous device called the Barrowmole - a hybrid between a wheelbarrow and a mole plough - used for installing fibre at high speed.

Lots of critical things came out during the meeting. Not least in Vtesse Networks CEO, Aidan Paul's talk on the inequalities and iniquities of the fibre rates (this is where hereditiments come in - things that can be inherited and taxed!). The fibre rates create a very unequal playing field between the likes of BT and new market entrants. Trefor Davies, Timico's CTO has captured the gist of this discussion on his blog "Fresh IP communications comment... daily!" It makes pretty damning reading.

Charles Trotman of the CLA provide a rallying cry and a focus for political action and lobbying. His talk led on to the general feeling that there needed to be increasing pressure placed on government on a concerted and increasingly co-ordinated front. Cyberdoyle of WrayComCom conjured up a wonderful image at this point, by describing this as something of a "Rebellion of the Yoghurt Knitters."

Lindsey Annison of DigitalDales then gave a very informative rundown of broadband developments in the US and Portugal, as well as some very practical information of funding opportunities which I hope, Stonehenge Broadband will take forward with Vtesse Networks as something of a test case.

There was much, much more besides. Information and actions abounded - the details of which are probably best left unmentioned at this stage. Enough to say that there are some surprises in store!

A couple of final words of thanks. To Tref and Timico for the venue and a taste of what ultrafast symmetrical broadband can be like (my old iBook couldn't really cope with the speed and nor could the speedtester!), to Chris (Cyberdoyle) for the magnificent cakes and, with Lindsey, for "telling it like it is" (If those two ever go into politics the world should tremble!) and to Walter of Ewhurst Broadbanders for showing that it isn't just the youngsters who need a fast and stable broadband service, and it isn't just youngsters prepared to do something about it.