VoIP key to broadband growth

Broadband operators must start improving their offerings as customers demand increasingly sophisticated services, the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) has warned.

Setting out the group's vision for the industry for the next five years, BSG chief executive Antony Walker told vnunet.com that evolving content and applications will be crucial to maintaining momentum as broadband moves beyond the early adopter stage.

"The real phenomenon over the next year will be voice over IP as companies and consumers realise the benefits and savings they can make," he said.

"But while we cannot see into the future regarding which other types of service will be successful, users' perceptions, values and the benefits they want are different now."

Walker added that it was now crucial for the industry to develop models that look at the infrastructure and investment needed for the future.

He also maintained that service providers and the government must work more closely with content providers, and that all parties need to pay careful attention to the network infrastructure.

"We will need a robust infrastructure, but whether this means it changes to fibre optic, or if copper can cope, or it turns out to be a mixture of both, remains to be seen as technologies that can compress files gets better. But models must now be examined," said Walker.

He further predicted that wireless will play a vital role in broadband access, and promised that the BSG would look closely at the question of spectrum licences.