The U.K. could learn much from Japan and Korea about convergence ...

(DTI) and trade group Intellect studied the impact of wide deployment and uptake of advanced broadband on the content market, applications and services. Their report had 4 key conclusions. Korea and Japan long have stressed top-down information & communications technology (ICT) planning, the latest incarnation being a drive to move beyond “e” to “u” (ubiquitous) networking. A focus on ICT policies means govts. and regulators are “happier to intervene” in the marketplace to get desired outcomes than in the U.K. The policies are stimulating the markets but uncertainty on how to handle convergence is a bar to faster progress, the report said. Govts., suppliers and regulators push operators to invest in ambitious network solutions to deliver policy aims, even if the business reasons are weak. Both Korea and Japan have increasingly advanced networks and high ambitions: Korea hopes to deliver 20 Mbps to all homes by 2006 and 50- 100 Mbps by 2010, while Japan looks to have 30 million fiber- to-the-home connections by 2010. Broadband is driving growth in the market for innovative content. As in the U.K., established growth areas include music, video-based services and games. But “personalized and interactive community sites are also becoming increasingly embedded in Korean and Japanese lives,” proving a fertile ground for business. Firms are exploiting such sites’ strong appeal to generate income via micro-payments and other new methods and extract value from user-generated content alongside more traditional advertising, subscription and pay-as-you-go models. Finally, the report noted, next-generation networks are “leading to disruptive convergence” in Korea and Japan. The broadband value chain is shifting away from households and to individuals; from in-home to out-of-home use; and from mass to personal consumption. The imminent arrival of PTV, VoD and mobile TV has non-traditional broadcasters scurrying to snap up content via partnerships or buyouts, and traditional broadcasting companies trying to innovate with existing content. But, the report said, uncertainty about regulation of TV-like services is slowing deployment, making them less advanced than other content genres and making consumer demand harder to gauge. Overall, the trade mission said, Japan and Korea well could be approaching the “convergence tipping point” that will speed them toward a “Ubiquitous Networked Society” before Europe. But, it said, 2 major questions remain: “Can the same advances be made with less investment or are the negative consequences of not having a highly advanced ICT-enabled society in an ever more competitive global market place too great to risk not taking a leap of faith?” The report’s recommendations included: (1) Study Korean and Japanese regulatory approaches as part of s review of the EU e-communications framework. (2) Focus on payment- identity-trust in the broadband arena. (3) Weigh a review of China’s impact on world ICT. The DTI/Intellect report coincided with a Point Topic analysis finding that S. Korea could lose its tag as the world leader in broadband uptake. Despite negligible broadband growth in 2005, Korea still has over 25% penetration by population, analysts said. But Denmark and the Netherlands are catching up. Since it’s growing at a much faster rate -- 47% in 2005 compared to the U.S.’s 27% -- Western Europe could soon be way ahead of the U.S. in broadband penetration, analysts said.