Is it sufficient to entitle citizens to a 2 megabits per second Internet connection?

Donald Clark provides a scathing perspective on yesterday's "Digital Britain" summit. The FT's coverage of the event was more positive, and Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson's strong hints that the UK's interpretation of the Universal Service Obligation on telephone companies (to the extent that the USO relates to Internet access) will be changed from its current derisory 28.8 kbit/s to 2 megabits/s are not to be sniffed at, especially considering that in March 2006 Ofcom was arguing that "no significant changes are needed at this time" and in particular that "the benchmark minimum speed will remain at 28.8 kbit/s". A rapid implementation of a 2 mbit/s obligation would have big and beneficial effects on the parts of rural Britain where dial-up Internet access remains the only cost-effective option. But keep in mind that other developed countries are taking a much more ambitious approach. For example, earlier this month the Australian Government announced a $AU43 billion plan to provide 90% of households and business with affordable access to 100 mbit/s connections, with the remaining 10% having access to a 12 mbit/s connection.