BBC backs Ofcom for better broadband
Monday 17 December 2007
As the digital switchover looms the BBC is backing communications watchdog, Ofcom in a campaign for faster broadband networks to be built across Britain.
In a video interview on the Financial Times website
www.ft.com discussing the BBC iPlayer, a new BBC service that will offer internet viewing of any BBC programme broadcast in the previous week, Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director for future media and technology, raised concerns over the prospect of a "digital divide".
"I don't want a two-tier Britain where urban wealthy people can access high-quality internet content at 50 megabits per second and there is a rural, disenfranchised poor," said Highfield, "Anything that can be done to advanced the next-generation broadband build-out will be good for Britain."
Highfield warned that without faster networks, the BBC would struggle to develop more interactive services, like the iPlayer in the future.
