Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has confirmed in his pre-Budget statement that all householders with a fixed phone line will be required to pay £6 per year as a Broadband Tax.
The money is to upgrade the exisiting telecommunications infrastructure so that super-fast broadband can be made available to 90 per cent of the population by the end of 2017.
Broadband coverage in Rural areas has been seen to be a particular challenge that will require much of this additional funding. BT concedes that currently over 150,000 households are not able to access the internet at all, and 11% of households can only achieve the minimum speeds, making access to online video and multiple online applications difficult.
The Chancellor stated;
“We are modernising the UK’s digital infrastructure and, in the process, creating thousands more skilled jobs. We have provided funding to help extend the opportunities of the broadband network to more remote communities. We now want to go further, so we can provide the next generation of super-fast broadband to 90 per cent of the population by the end of 2017.”
