It is not often that I am brought up short with information about some significant OPLAN development which hitherto has remained off the radar screen but when I recently received an email from consultant and researcher Ken Murricane,  it made me sit up.  Ken has undertaken excellent research for the Foundation in the past and has a wide-ranging grasp of what is going on around the world in the development of open access networks but when I read his email about OPLAN developments in France, I asked him to do some more digging and this he has done.  You can read about it in his report which has a brief case study of the first of these 'francoplans' to become operational, in Limousin.  I have long argued that, at this stage of the early development of OPLAN development, grand, 'top-down' national schemes are unlikely to be successful for a number of reasons.  Firstly, to a greater or lesser extent, it requires the backing of a 'blueprint' enshrined in public policy which is a big bet to place  given the multitude of local variables which are likely to determine success in any situation – rather, let a thousand flowers bloom and use the experience this delivers to help frame public policy.  Secondly, any national OPLAN initiative which involves the framing of public policy and regulatory provisions,  will inevitably attract attention and invite strong lobbying from vested interests that are threatened by any access strategy and firmly set against it.  So, could it be that France, the last place in the developed world one might imagine OPLAN ideas to take hold, will turn out to have quietly stolen a march on the rest of Europe and the US?  We wait and watch.

And at the other end of the spectrum of scale, in a small, tucked away rural area in the UK, Lindsey Annison writes and publishes a book that details a rural OPLAN wireless broadband initiative carried out by a group of small businesses and dedicated volunteers in order to bring 21st century communications to their community.  I have known and respected Lindsey for many years - a remarkably dedicated OPLAN advocate and one of the social entrepreneurs behind the UK's Access to Broadband Campaign (ABC).  In 2005, Lindsey was nominated in the New Statesman Upstart Awards in the "Social Enterprise Champion" category and this book gives the background to what she and her neighbours in the village of Wennet in Lancashire in the north west of England have achieved.

Her book ("JFDI Community Broadband: Wennington") details this rural wireless broadband initiative carried out by a group of small businesses and dedicated volunteers in order to bring 21st century communications to their community.  For a variety of reasons, this rural community found itself out of broadband reach for internet access from the incumbent telco, BT, and alternatives suppliers.  Being firmly stuck in what Lindsey calls a "broadband notspot" local folk set to and provided their own affordable broadband telecommunications network using wireless infrastructure and available expertise.  This micro-OPLAN now reaches more than 40 users, and the positive effects are felt throughout the community - businesses, families and individuals. Get hold of Lindsey's book and read how they achieved this simple solution, and the benefits that are now being enjoyed and as she says, "It's a replicable solution available to any rural, or even urban, community who cannot access sufficient bandwidth to enjoy the benefits of the Internet, Web 2.0, VoIP, video conferencing, B2B connectivity, uploads, and more."

...and I say, "La France - mangez votre coeur dehors!"