Widespread adoption of e-commerce depends on high bandwidth permanent connections being available. For those customers within coverage, Tele2's fixed wireless local loop service provides a real alternative to xDSL as we can provide effective competition to BT on a nationwide basis without recourse to BT's existing fixed local loop plant. The preliminary results of our deployment indicate that there is extensive demand for the broadband services that we provide. In order for the UK to be at the heart of the international e-commerce revolution, it is essential that Britain has an infrastructure cost which is as good or better than other countries. Tele2 can be an important part in delivering this, due to the intrinsic cost of our alternative local loop and the very different tariffing structure we are able to adopt.
Competition has to deliver in areas other than cost alone.
For example, the installation time for the delivery of a broadband connection is critical. Tele2's wireless solution is particularly attractive as, within the coverage area, we can deliver service in a matter of hours or days, rather than the months typically required for wired solutions. It is important that e-commerce security solutions are internationally agreed and regulated. The same is true in the area on encryption. In general, mainly because of the speed of development, we believe it is better to encourage the industry to regulate itself within a broad framework set internationally.