At a meeting of local business leaders last week, I was approached by a businesswoman concerned about how Britain and local businesses in Oxfordshire in particular were going to survive with much of the world’s economy shifting from the west to the east, particularly in India and China. One of the key elements in surviving this shift is to ensure first class communications including instant accessibility and clear transmission on mobile phones.

She told me that in order to obtain good reception on her mobile phone she has to go the third floor of her home in Old Kidlington. “Yet when I am in my holiday home in Turkey it’s as clear as a bell,” she said. With Ofcom announcing this week that 2010 will be the first time in history that more calls will be made by mobiles than landlines in the UK, isn’t it astonishing that in many parts of the UK it is still impossible to find a signal for a mobile?

Ofcom says that the change to mobiles will lead to a drop in 0800 numbers, as a lot of smart companies switch to 03 numbers which cost the same to call as a regular landline number and are included in people’s free minutes (0800 are free to call from a landline but cost up to 20p a minute from mobiles).

To be on the leading edge of technical development it will be essential to have unimpeded access to mobile networks. At last week’s meeting with local business leaders, I urged that the aim in the UK must be to achieve this by the end of 2010. On the Continent, because networks are shared, companies as well as individuals can get pretty good reception in most places. 

As the Commission shapes its digital agenda between 2010 and 2014, and also forms its ‘EU 2020′ strategy, investment in mobile networks must be a top priority. With some MEPs left unconvinced in the past few days by Commissioner-designate Neelie Kroes’ hearing for the EU Digital Agenda portfolio, she would do well to take a close look at the European Internet Foundation’s document “The Digital World 2025: Indicators for European Action“, released last Autumn (see blog of 02 October). The document makes the following key points:

Technological Dimension: Mass collaboration will shift into a much higher gear by 2025. More people will be connected with mobile devices to the Internet anywhere at any time; user interfaces to access the network will be simplified and more intuitive; many new intermediate tools, applications and services will be part of the network or available through the network to manage and make sense of vast volumes of data. We cannot ignore the rapid advances in mobile internet technology;
 

Economic Dimension: Smart infrastructure – including transport, energy and other utilities, environmental management and public services – will become not just a source itself of new growth and employment, but also the necessary foundation for economy-wide “smart growth” and competitiveness - in other words, how modern technology is used to improve efficiency across a wide number of sectors;
 

Socio-political Dimension: The fundamental political question Europe’s democratic societies and political leaders must confront today is, quite simply, what place do we want Europe to occupy in the digital world of 2025, and what public policies do we need – starting today – to make it happen? An interesting aspect is the ‘Digital Agora’. The idea is that a “new digital society” is emerging and growing more influential. This gives rise to such questions as to how digital participation influences “analogue” democratic processes? How should digital responsiveness and democratic legitimacy be reconciled?

The Commission’s ‘EU 2020′ consultation paper calls for an ambitious European Digital Agenda that takes concrete steps towards the completion of an Online Single Market. A top-class mobile infrastructure is an essential first step…

European Digital Agenda