Jaropa Tech Limited
Broadband Tax 'unfair'
A cross-party group of MPs, the Business Innovation and Skills Committee has branded the proposed Broadband Tax
unfair, claiming that most of those who would have to pay would not benefit from the faster broadband service.
The government's plan is to introduce a charge of 50p per month to every fixed phone line.
As we outlined in our previous article on the Broadband Tax, this charge will affect everyone with a phone line, regardless of
whether they have Broadband or not. Many pensioners do not even have a computer, but rely on their phone line for safety and to
keep in touch with family and friends.
But even those who do have Broadband may not benefit. Fastest speeds are always found in major cities and to bring those speeds to rural
areas is a massive task. Delivering 2Mbps to the whole country by 2012 (one of the government's aims) is huge enough. With 34 million fixed lines
in the country, the £6 per annum levy will raise just over £200 million per year, a fraction of the £1.5 billion that BT
says it will invest, just to upgrade 40% of its customers to fibre by 2012. And again, this will be targetted at urban and suburban areas.
To upgrade the whole country would, according to BT's estimates, cost around £5 billion.
The committee believes that the charge will "place a disproportionate cost on a majority who will not, or are unable to,
reap the benefits of that charge." It has also stated that the focus should be on providing basic broadband for all, leaving and
allowing the delivery of higher speeds to businesses.
And it's scrapped
The broadband tax has been scrapped. Good news for all, then. It was inherently unfair and it was unrealistic to expect a measly £170m a year to
go far in rolling out faster broadband. The Government's own target of everyone receiving 2Mbs broadband was hardly an ambitious one anyway. Best leave
the task to private enterprise. At least they understand the scale of the challenge.
|
