Ofcom CEO Ed Richards talks to Ofcomwatch – Interview Transcript
Ofcomwatch had the pleasure of interviewing Ofcom CEO Ed Richards last month. In an interview that covered topics ranging from numbering policy to the proposed Public Service Publisher (PSP), Richards’ provides an assessment Ofcom’s progress to date and looks ahead to challenges such as the Digital Dividend Review, next generation access and the review of the pay-TV market.
This is perhaps the most in-depth interview Ed Richards has conducted since being appointed Chief Executive of Ofcom in October 2006. It is also the first interview conducted by a new media outlet.
A full transcript of this interview is available here.
Some highlights from the interview include –
On the current Digital Dividend Review -
“People keep saying to me – ‘you’ve made your mind up on DDR’. But we haven’t! We absolutely have not. We have made some proposals for a way forward, and there are complicated issues – around the HD position, around PMSE, around local TV. We have put a lot into the first consultation but I am not going to sit here and say everything we always say or talk about in the initial consultation is right. Part of the process is to flush out what is or isn’t right or develop a different way of thinking about it.”
On independent regulation -
“We have not been leant on, we have not been pushed, prodded, we have not had people propose to us an answer at any time in the time that I have been here. So, it’s just not a problem, not an issue, and not a problem.”
On the PSP to provide British new media content -
“It would be great to have loads of these ideas and projects coming out of Britain. The idea of the PSP in its most simplistic sense is that we want a new media, Web 2.0, or whatever you want to call it, content capacity in Britain, which is British, in the same way that have uniquely British content in the traditional broadcasting world.”
How can Ed Richard say that zero public funding was put into broadband roll out when the North East, East, Scotland and Wales have paid to have BT rollout to all exchages?
Richards said: “What level of coverage do we have for broadband now? 99.6%! How much public money was necessary to do that? Zero! Would it have been a waste of taxpayers money to spend it on supporting rollout? Yes! Next generation is the same in my view.”
I agree with the earlier commenter that Richard’s ‘zero’ claim is inaccurate. Not only were certain geographical areas subsidised but broadband roll-out to public sector users was also subsidised. Because the underlying beneficiary of subsidised broadband facilities to new areas or new users is the service provider (BT) — it is an indirect subsidy.
The more interesting questions flow from the next two parts of Richards’ statement: (i) was that money in fact wasted? and (ii) is next generation access the same?
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Ofcom insists it hasn’t closed the door on DDR…
Ofcom did not go into the Digital Dividend Review with fixed opinions, insists chief executive Ed Richards. In a detailed interview with the Ofcomwatch blog, Richards says: “People keep saying to me – ‘you’ve made your mind up on DDR’. But …