Learning from the credit crunch to avoid a broadband crunch

While it might be the most pressing issue de jour, the financial system isn't the only area where government needs to inject a bit of liquidity to get a market moving. The way in which broadband services are supplied could also do with a little central intervention to keep the bits flowing. Surprisingly, there are some parallels to be drawn between the systems of finance and "bit trafficking". Financial systems (banks in particular) have in the past operated on a system of fractional reserve banking where the total amounts loaned out at any moment in time are greater than the assets held in reserve—hence the term. The Basel II rules were conceived to try to offset this, by aiming to ensure that banks have sufficient liquidity and assets, but as these include property investments and more complex financial instruments that the... [read full story]