UK government cancels broadband tax
The UK government has officially confirmed that the Labour initiative of a broadband tax is now dead in the water. As many had expected, while additional funding will be made available from the government to help assist the creation of broadband networks in more rural areas of the UK the vast majority of investment in the UK broadband sector will be left to the private sector. This is a welcome announcement for UK broadband users although it does place some pressure back up on the private sector.
Many people believe that the broadband tax initiative was nothing but a stealth tax on UK consumers, many of who now have access to the Internet. It did seem the perfect income generating idea when you consider that the Internet is now a more integral part of the UK economy than ever before. Now it looks as though the vast majority of investment in the broadband sector will be left up to British Telecom which is currently in the process of completing a nationwide superfast fibre-optic broadband network which will cost billions of pounds.
It will be interesting to see whether UK consumers are willing to foot the bill for this investment in the future broadband infrastructure of the UK.
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