Could Jeremy Hunt’s Plan Justify An Obscenity?

Not many people would call Jeremy Hunt the name which accidentally slipped James Naughtie’s lips this morning on the BBC’s Today programme, and we certainly disapprove of that sort of name calling.

Naughtie accidentally switched the “C” in “Culture Secreatary” with the “H” in “Hunt”, creating a live blooper – technically a classic Spoonerism after the legendary Reverend Spooner.

Naughtie apologised for his “verbal tangle” and swung into a fit of coughing, before pulling himself together for a dignified interview with the Culture Secretary.

But the Twitterverse was convulsed in a giant collective snigger. Hunt himself tweeted: “They say prepare for anything before going on Today but that took the biscuit. I was laughing as much as u Jim.”  Then added, “or should I say Dr Spooner.”

Broadband industry outrage

Not many of us would deliberately call a culture secretary an obscene name, but it’s fair to say the man’s broadband policies have inspired a sustained backlash.

The Guardian’s Charles Arthur took him to task for failing to address the iniquitous “fibre tax”, a piece of bizarre stupidity which sees all network owners paying business rates on their fibre, and BT paying a fraction of the rates that its competitors do.

Computer Weekly’s Lindsay Annison warned that failing to address this – and giving BT preferential rights on its fibre network – would result in BT having an effective monopoly on the roadside cabinets which Hunt has renamed “digital hubs in the community”.

Fundamentally, Hunt – and the increasingly toothless regulator Ofcom – has missed the opportunity to create a level playing field by repeating the success of OpenReach, the BT division created in the unbundling of the local loop.

After years of wrangling by BT, OpenReach was eventually set up to give access to last mile copper to any provider on an equal basis with BT. That has allowed the success of competitors such as TalkTalk.

The same model should be applied to the fibre cabinets, but it looks very much as if it won’t both because of the fibre tax issue and because BT has apparently managed to exclude other providers from offering business fibre broadband services through its ducts.

Hunt doesn’t deserve abuse. But if he did a better job of opening up the fibre network to ensure competition, he would have a better chance of delivering the ambitions “best broadband by 2015” goal.