Information society : agenda for action in the UK : evidence revceived up to 31 March 1996 / Select Committee on Science and Technology.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Science and Technology Committee.
- Date:
- 1996
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Information society : agenda for action in the UK : evidence revceived up to 31 March 1996 / Select Committee on Science and Technology. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE (SUB-COMMITTEE 1) TUESDAY 30 JANUARY 1996 Present: Butterworth, L. Hogg, B. Craig of Radley, L. Hollick, L. Dixon-Smith, L. Phillips of Ellesmere, L. (Chairman) Flowers, L. Selborne, E. Gregson, L. —_ Haskel, L. Porter of Luddenhan, L. Memorandum by the Department of Trade and Industry INTRODUCTION The Government welcomes the Committee’s enquiry and its well-chosen timing and direction. We are at an important stage in the transition to a society based upon the acquisition, dissemination and exploitation of information. The Government has sought to move the debate on from who connects whom into which superhighway to what the superhighways can do for the economy and society at large. By focusing on the- wide-ranging nature of information superhighways and the services they may support, the Committee is playing an important role in the transition to the Information Society. The questions posed by the Committee in its call for evidence were extremely wide-ranging. In the relatively short space of time available, the Department has confined its detailed written evidence at this stage to those areas where we have appropriate specialist expertise, providing only a general outline in others. In this memorandum, we have assumed a degree of technical knowledge consistent with having read the Department’s memoranda of evidence to the House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee’s enquiry into Optical Fibre Networks [session 1993-94, ref. 285-v]. The key issues are: what services are offered over the superhighways, how they can be used to advance Britain’s competitive position and how they can benefit society as a whole. [DEFINITION— the term information superhighway has been taken to mean a publicly accessible network capable of transferring large amounts of information at high speed between users] 1. What is the current form of the Information Superhighway and how is it developing (i) in the United Kingdom (it) World-wide The Department welcomes the Committee’s chosen definition of a superhighway. It encompasses multi- component systems rather than prescribing any particular means of delivery. This allows the debate to extend much wider than the narrow question of fibre-optic links. We have taken this definition to include the “narrowband” Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), the Internet and also the “one to many” broadcast media, where digital transmission offers exciting possibilities. Indeed, the Government attaches considerable importance to promoting the availability of alternative, competing infrastructure and this remains a central element of our regulatory policy. It is an important underpinning for sustainable competition in the long term, particularly as industry convergence brings pressures for varying degrees of vertical integration between information production, conveyance, service delivery and equipment manufacture. NARROWBAND PSTN Currently, the dominant medium of communication and delivery of what are commonly perceived to be superhighway applications and services is still the PSTN. Here modern data compression techniques significantly enhance the effective bandwidth. The remarkable boom in public demand for on-line services is also a reflection of the UK’s liberalised, highly competitive telecommunications market. The strong competition between the 100 or so Internet service providers has helped to drive down prices. This has been facilitated by a liberal class licensing regime for the provision of on-line services. Further, the promotion of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32218655_0009.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
