Government to ask ISPs to fund superfast broadband roll-out
The government is set to introduce an industry levy worth millions of pounds on internet service providers (ISPs) to help fund the roll-out of superfast broadband across the entire UK.
The government's current Superfast Britain scheme aims to have 95 per cent of the country connected to superfast broadband by 2017. However, to target the remaining five per cent - those who typically live or work in remote, hard to reach places - the Conservatives will look to ISPs to put forward the funds.
According to the Financial Times, a senior government figure has said that the Chancellor George Osborne wants to move the costs of laying the extensive broadband infrastructure away from the tax payer and onto the vendors.
“That is very much the Treasury view — why should we find £500 million to do the last five per cent?” the source told the FT. “An industry levy is the direction of travel.”
The government says that it is on track to achieve its target of getting 90 per cent of Britain connected to superfast broadband by the end of 2015, and to deliver on its manifesto commitment of 95 per cent in two years' time. By 2020, when this current parliament ends, the Conservatives want to go beyond this and achieve “near universal superfast broadband”.
In a review of the telecoms sector released last week, regulatory body Ofcom said that improving broadband services for the UK's small businesses is top of its list of priorities. However, according to the senior government figure who spoke to the FT, getting superfast broadband to “the final five per cent is just not commercially viable”.
Other nations have introduced similar levies in which internet providers are forced to pay an additional tax, with these funds then reinvested in broadband infrastructure. Neither the government nor the industry have issued a response to the FT's article at this stage.
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