Battle lines drawn in UK broadband funding

Michael Carroll | February 02, 2010

telecomseurope.net

Thumbnail:

The majority of UK homes will enjoy fixed-line broadband data speeds of 50-100Mbps by 2017, a political party has pledged.

A spokesman for the country’s Conservative opposition party says funds currently used for the UK’s digital switchover would be re-directed into the build-out of a super-fast broadband network if it wins a general election this year, according to reports in the Financial Times.

The party would also force incumbent telco BT to open up its ducts to rivals to boost competition.

A total of £1.3 billion (€1.49b) could be raised over five years by re-allocating the proportion of the TV license fee currently used to fund the switch from analog to digital broadcasting towards the broadband build-out.

The current government is targeting the same 2017 deadline for super-fast broadband, but proposes to pay for it by taxing landline users £6 per year on-top of existing charges.

Source:

Michael Carroll