UK broadband tax confirmed for Budget

Get ready to be 50p a month worse off if you have a landline

9 December 2009 18:01 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Following the news we brought you in September that this would be the case, it seems it definitely is.

The 50p-per-month "broadband tax", previously confirmed by Stephen Timms, the treasury minister in charge of implementing the Digital Britain plans, has been mentioned in the chancellor's pre-Budget report.

As we know, the £6-a-year levy on all landline phone lines will raise up to £175 million a year, and will be added to a fund to support the development of super-fast broadband in Britain. Chancellor Alistair Darling has said the tax will help towards the government's plans to implement broadband to 90% of the UK by the end of 2017.

"We are modernising the UK's digital infrastructure and, in the process, creating thousands more skilled jobs", the BBC quotes Darling as stating, as the tax was announced.

"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% of the population by the end of 2017".

Via: news.bbc.co.uk

Full tags

Software, Broadband, Digital Britain, Biz