The long-awaited Digital Britain report, which lays out the UK government’s strategy for broadband and digital content was published today.
One of the biggest surprises in the report was the promise to introduce a levy on fixed telephone lines in order to pay for fast broadband rollout to those areas of the country - estimated to be around one-third - which won’t be reached by commercial efforts.
It will amount to a 50p a month tax for every household in the country with a fixed phone line.
The main points outlined in the report include:
- a three-year plan to boost digital participation
- universal access to broadband by 2012
- fund to invest in next generation broadband
- digital radio upgrade by 2015
- liberalisation of 3G spectrum
- legal and regulatory attack on digital piracy
- support for public service content partnerships
- changed role for Channel 4
- consultation on how to fund local, national and regional news
- £130m of BBC licence fee to pay for ITV regional news
To download a PDF copy of the report click here.
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