In a far-reaching report on the future of Britain’s digital infrastructure, the government has mapped out plans that could see part of the BBC licence fee redirected to fund universal broadband, all homes levied with a broadband tax, ISPs tasked to cut file sharing by 70%, and analogue radio signals switched off by 2015.
These and many other announcements came as part Lord Carter’s Digital Britain review, and a White Paper which suggests all homes with fixed copper telephone and internet lines could pay a 50p per month tax to fund high speed next generation fibre-based broadband piped to the vast majority of the UK population.
The Digital Britain Report aims to be a guidepath for how Britain can sustain its position as a leading digital economy and society. On current definitions, Digital Britain accounts for nearly £1 in every £10 that the whole economy produces each year, the report noted.
The report builds on a five point plan published at the beginning of the year to modernise and upgrade the wired, wireless and broadcasting infrastructure; to provide a favourable climate for investment and innovation in digital content, applications and services; to secure a range of high quality public service content, particularly in news; to develop the nation’s digital skills by securing universal access to broadband, increasing its take-up and using broadband to deliver more public services more effectively and more efficiently.
“We are at an inflection point in technology, in capability and in demand. It is moving from conferring advantage on those who have it to conferring active disadvantage on those who are without, whether in children’s homework access to keep up with their peers, to offers and discounts, lower utility bills, access to information and access to public services.”
In part the market will increasingly address this issue through the wide availability of new lower cost devices, new schemes for recycling PCs to low-income households or new prepay mobile broadband.
An emphasis on adult ICT user skills, together with the appointment of Lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane Fox as the new Champion for Digital Inclusion, and an Ofcom-led strategic review of media literacy are other proposals.
The Digital Britain Report brings these strands together with additional funding in a National Plan for Digital Participation which combines an improved offer to increase motivation to get online, with social networking and outreach, and with skills training.
The report confirmed an intention to deliver the Universal Service Broadband Commitment at 2Mbps by 2012. This can be delivered through upgrades to the existing copper and wireless networks and use DSL, fibre to the street cabinet, wireless and possibly satellite infill. It will be funded from £200 million from direct public funding enhanced by five other sources, some of them commercial.
“By this Summer speeds of 50Mbps and above will be available to all households covered by the Virgin Media Ltd’s national cable network: some 50% of UK homes. Following decisions by the regulator, Ofcom, which have enhanced regulatory certainty, BT Group plc has been encouraged by the first year capital allowances measures in Budget 2009 and the need to respond competitively to accelerate their plans for the mix of fibre to the cabinet and fibre to the home.”
The Government also proposes to make all the existing operators’ 3G licences indefinite rather than term licences in a bid to accelerate a next generation mobile network capable of broadband speeds of 50Mbps in the main urban and suburban markets, going down to perhaps 4-5Mbps in the more rural areas.
Piracy of intellectual property for profit is theft, the report spelled out, and will be pursued as such through the criminal law.
Ofcom will have a duty to secure a significant reduction in unlawful file sharing by imposing two specific obligations: notification of unlawful activity and, for repeat-infringers, a court-based process of identity release and civil action. The Government is also providing for intermediate technical measures by ISPs, such as bandwidth reduction or protocol blocking.
