New Phone Line To Pay Tax For Faster Internet

A tax on telephone lines will help pay for ambitious plans to rewire Britain so that super-fast broadband is available to all, it has been revealed.

The newly-released Digital Britain report proposes charging households with landlines an extra 50p a month to subsidise broadband provision in rural areas.

It aims to ensure every home in Britain has access to 2MB-per-second broadband by 2012 - a speed fast enough to use online shopping services and social networks.

Commenting on the levy, Sky's Ursual Errington said: "It is a form of tax and will have to go through legislative processes and a consultation period.

"This shows how seriously the Government is taking this idea of a broadband roll-out to as many people as possible."

Meanwhile, those who misuse broadband will be targeted by new measures outlined in the report.

They would give communications regulator Ofcom new powers to clamp down on people who persistently download music and films illegally.

Introducing the report, Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw told MPs that the Government intended to upgrade all national radio stations from analogue to digital by 2015.

He also spoke about changes to the licence fee spending, which could see part of the cash ring-fenced to pay for public service programmes on non-BBC channels.

This could amount to £130m a year from 2013 for ITV local news, shows for children and other important but less profitable programming.

The cash will come from the pot that had been put aside to pay for the switchover to digital - which is expected to come in under budget.

In an article written for the Times newspaper before the Digital Britain report release, the Prime Minister said he he believed there was an urgent need to invest in internet and telecoms networks.

"Just as the bridges, roads and railways built in the 19th century were the foundations of an Industrial Revolution that helped Britain to become the workshop of the world, so investment now in the information and communications industries can underpin our emergence from recession," he wrote.