More from Top10.co.uk

Broadband levy likened to poll tax

Posted 22nd June 2009 at 6:17pm by Kimberley Howson

Kim user icon
The broadband levy has been branded an unfair

The £6 annual "broadband tax" has been labelled as a backwards step for the industry by two leading internet service providers (ISPs).

Under the plans, revealed in the government's Digital Britain report on June 16th, all households and businesses will pay 50p a month on their fixed telephone lines to help fund the rollout of next-generation fibre broadband networks.

However, Charles Dunstone, Chief Executive of TalkTalk owner the Carphone Warehouse, told the Sunday Times: "It is like a poll tax, a fixed figure for everyone. I don't really know if the government can justify it to the electorate."

Jeremy Darroch, head of Sky Broadband parent company BskyB, also warned that a stealth tax could hurt competition between telecoms suppliers and drive prices up.

Speaking to the newspaper, he added: "There are hard-pressed people who see a phone line as a necessity but may have no interest in broadband."

Last week, Forrester Research analyst Ian Fogg claimed that the tax will only be able to raise an annual sum in the "low hundreds of millions" from the UK's 34 million fixed telephone lines, which is some way short of the amount required to establish a nationwide fibre broadband network.

BT and Virgin Media are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of the broadband tax.

More news on: Sky, TalkTalk, Customer service and satisfaction, Future developments

Add your comment

Please write a longer comment

Related stories

Broadband news

Top 10 Broadband is the UK's most popular broadband news site. Our team of qualified journalists research and write broadband news articles daily on a range of topics.

News is an integral part of our website and our researchers make it their priority to uncover and analyse developments in the UK broadband market on a daily basis.