Know Lord Carter, the UK Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting
Stephen Andrew Carter, born in Scotland on February 12 1964, was created a Life Peer to be introduced in the House of Lords on October 16, 2008. This, in turn was with a view to appoint Carter as the the minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting, despite his not being an MP. As a matter of fact, he was awarded a CBE in the Honours list of 2006 for his services to the industry of communications in the UK.
Carter, who had his schooling at Currie High School Edinburgh (1982-87) had his LLb Hons graduation from the Aberdeen University. He also had stints at the London Business School in 1995, and Harvard Business School in 1997. He started his working career as a trainee with J Walter Thompson UK, an advertising agency. His saga of excellence began here, as he rose to the position of Managing Director of the firm in 1995, and a couple of years later was made the Chief Executive of the company.
One of the major turning points in his working career happened when he took over as Chief Operating Officer of NTL, a UK-based cable TV company, in 2000. Alongside, guiding the firm to a leading position in the broadband market of the UK, he also learned the nuances of the broadband segment of the country. This term probably would had helped him to a large extent, in coping with the pressures of the more demanding tasks he undertook in the following years.
It was in 2003 that Carter was appointed Ofcom’s first chief executive. However, he stepped down from the UK media watchdog’s prime post in 2006, only to assume the prime post at Brunswick Group, whose major clients included BT Group, British Airways, EMI and BP. From here he experienced a steep rise in fortunes, as he was requested by Gordon Brown to take over as the latter’s strategy chief as well as 10 Downing Street’s principal adviser.
Lord Stephen Carter was named the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for technology, communications and broadcasting in 2008 October, after having created Baron and consequently introduced in the House of Lords. Currently, his service has been distributed in the DCMS and DBIS, besides in the National Economic Council of the Prime Minister After his assuming the post of the communications minister, his main responsibilitis were; Digital Brtain, Digital Switchover, Broadcasting policy and Digital Bill.
Of the lot, the Digital Britain concept, which was all about a strategic vision to ensure that the UK appeared at the forefront of the world digital economy, was the predominant one. He had an interim report released on January 29, 2009 that included hints to many relevant aspects such as internet regulation, public service broadcasting and speeds of broadband servicein the country. However, the real concept as well as the visions of the government on the context was published by him on June 16 2009, as the final Digital Britain report.
The other two prioritised responsibilities of Lord Carter, namely broadcasting and digital switchover, referred to; working in tandem with the regulators broadcasting industry, listeners and viewers to ensure a healthy competition, to step up choice of the viewers and to maintain quality and standards of the programmes, and the comprehensive switchover of the broadcasting system of the country into digital mode that is an enhanced way of transmitting pictures and sound by converting them into computerised data.
Lord Carter, on June 11 2009, virtually shocked a large section of the populace by announcing his stepping down from the ministerial post, after his publishing the final Digital Britain report. This news was leaked to the press, despite the intention of the government to keep it confidential. Lord Carter’s resignation proposal has, as a matter of fact, evoked mixed reactions in the country. While a good number of tech-wizards has always tended to treat his visions and achievements grimly, it is also apparent that the commoner had faith in his otherwise prudent 2Mbps broadband for all plan, which was mutilated to a good extent by the saboteurs.
