UK Government forced to backtrack on broadband tax
The UK government has been forced to abandon plans to introduce a 50p a month tax on every telephone line in the UK which would have been used to fund investments in the UK broadband sector. Whether or not the line was used for broadband, the UK government was looking to push ahead with plans to raise upwards of £170 million a year from the controversial tax. However, in order to push through the Digital Economy Bill a number of amendments have had to be made, with the ditching of the broadband tax perhaps the most high profile.
The Digital Economy Bill has been a controversial issue from day one and there have been other amendments made by the UK government to ensure it was pushed through parliament late last night, prior to the election. There is no doubt that broadband is becoming something of a hot topic in the political arena and something of a vote winner or a vote loser in the forthcoming election.
Now the government has been forced to abandon the planned introduction of the broadband tax it will be interesting to see where future funding of the UK broadband network comes from. There are significant costs ahead in the race to improve and expand the UK broadband network taking in superfast broadband and other technological advances. Will taxpayers yet again foot the bill?
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