Switchover 'should have been greener'

The UK's chief broadcasting regulator has said digital switchover could have been planned to be more environmentally friendly.

Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, was speaking about the prospects for super-fast broadband last night after announcing moves to encourage investment.

Work should be carried out to make sure next generation networks - currently at an early stage of development - have as little impact on climate change as possible, he said. New equipment will be required in homes and throughout the networks, which could have relatively large power requirements.

Richards - whose organisation was involved in planning the switch-off of analogue television signals - said his only regret about its contribution was that climate change should have been given more consideration. One option would have been stricter regulations for the power consumption of set-top boxes.

"The one bit of policy which if I had my time again we would do slightly differently would be digital switchover - our contribution to to it," said Richards. "The policy is 100% right and is working.

"But the whole time we did it there was never any environmental dimension, and actually there should have been, because there is a big power issue and a big obsolete box issue. In this day and age, when these decisions come up, we should think about that."

Richards also supported a suggestion that new "eco town" developments, planned by the government, could be good testbeds for next generation networks.

"It would be a good fit, especially with the idea of home-working," he said, answering questions at an event hosted by the Institute of Engineering and Technology.