digital britain report
Digital Britain raised Jeremy Hunt’s profile for the second
time in as many weeks. Was his response political point-scoring
or did it reflect a deeper understanding of the issues?
Future of broadcasting
the steps needed to lay fibre optic cable in
sufficient quantities. The government has
The future of broadcasting was the subject of stood by while BT, protected by an effective
the Digital Britain report by Lord Carter, the monopoly over the Local Loop, makes mini-
former NTL and Ofcom chief, and No 10 advi- mal investment there.”
sor, whose departure as a Business Depart-
ment Minister neatly co-incided with the
document’s publication.
Campaign against telephone tax
The report’s subject matter fell squarely into Conservative hackles were raised at the pros-
the DCMS domain, giving Jeremy Hunt his pect of a telephone tax that will be ring-fenced
second platform within a matter of days. He to provide additional investment in broadband
argued that Digital Britain had failed to de- networks.
liver anything substantive, the document be- As the Shadow Secretary of State was quick
ing little more than a collection of sector to note, both the cable and satellite sectors
analyses topped off with statements of ambi- were developed without recourse to taxation.
tion, “Apart from announcing twelve consul- “It is reasonable that public investment may be
tations and a new quango, the Report failed to needed to deliver broadband to the more remote
establish a single action in what is an im- parts of the country, but an extra tax is an old
mensely complex but vitally important area economy solution to a new economy problem.”
for the economy. Raising £150 million a year, it is estimated
“We need a proper digital infrastructure that that the proposed broadband tax would take
can exploit commercially the huge competi- around twenty years to fund the £3 billion
tive strengths in the digital industries, particu- which the government estimates would be re-
larly the production of content. quired to complete the rollout as far as road-
“There is no evidence that telecoms opera- side terminations. (Connection to homes would
tors in Britain have planned, let alone taken, be an additional cost).
Hunt advocates the development of a proper digital infrastructure that can exploit commercially the
huge competitive strengths in the digital industries, particularly the production of content.
The Informed Executive
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