Bandwidth shortage hampers Open Government

Whitehall's Open Government initiative has been set back by a lack of bandwidth according to the managing agency - The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA).

Bottlenecks in the Internet connection have made it difficult for citizens to access government records at http://www.open.gov.uk, and the CCTA has displayed an apology to this effect for several months.

But on Monday, Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) increased the capacity of the links to Open Government servers, albeit one month later than the CCTA had wanted.

The CCTA ordered more capacity in April. Steve Mumby, deputy director of managed services at the agency, said CWC's contract allowed a lead time of just three months between accepting the order and delivering the service. "Although the supplier did in fact slightly over-run, we believe the time was within acceptable bounds," he said.

This week's upgrade takes capacity on open.gov.uk up to 4Mbps - twice the amount it launched with in 1994. But all that bandwidth is used up at peak times - such as in the hours prior to yesterday's eclipse.

"We're learning from our mistakes now and ordering capacity before we need it," added Mumby. "On Monday, Cable & Wireless were able to put in a further 4Mbps bandwidth, which will suffice at least until the end of the year."

He added: "With hindsight, it is very easy to say we should have launched open.gov with an 8Mbps bandwidth, but you have to weigh up your budget against the actual usage."

CCTA is also upgrading its servers, which will speed up the site further.