BCC wants debate into broadband infrastructure funding to be re-opened

The British Chambers of Commerce has stated that now that the fifty pence broadband tax has been scrapped the debate into the funding of a more advanced broadband infrastructure in the UK needs to be reopened.

Some time ago the Labour party announced its plans for universal broadband across the UK as well as its plans to increase broadband speeds across the nation through improvement to the broadband infrastructure. Of course, this was going to cost money and one of the ways in which they planned to do this was through the launch of a new broadband tax, which would involve taxing fifty pence a month on landlines to raise money to fund the new infrastructure.

However, this week it was announced that the government had been forced to scrap this broadband tax, which had been causing a great deal of controversy and had been strongly opposed by the Tory party. With the general election having been set for May 6th the wash up period did not give the party enough time to get the tax pushed through and so it was scrapped. However, many believe that if the Labour party gets back into power the tax could be revived again.

Whilst many industry groups and consumers may be pleased that the broadband tax has been scrapped there are also many people who are now wondering how the funding is going to be raised to improve the broadband infrastructure in the UK if the money cannot be raised through this tax. One of these groups is the British Chambers of Commerce, and since the announcement that the tax was to be scrapped the group has called for a debate into the funding of an improved broadband infrastructure to be reopened.

An official from the BCC said: “British business wants and needs a super-fast broadband infrastructure that brings us into line with our major competitors. The UK must be at the forefront of the digital revolution, rather than continually playing catch-up.”

Source – Top10