Until he suggests a new tax to help pay for broadband for all, Lord Carter follows almost exactly the template of his interim Digital Britain report earlier this year. But no solution is found for many issues he raised in January: BBC/Channel 4 is still work in progress, the corporation’s licence fee will probably be top-sliced but is open to more consultation, and there is no plan to change local media ownership rules.To read this report in The Guardian in full, see:
www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/16/digital-britain-reportAlso see:Digital Britain points to expansion for BT
On the day the government’s vision of digital Britain was launched, it seems appropriate that BT was the standout performer among leading shares. Analysts believe the proposals – which include using £200m from the BBC licence fee and adding a 50p-a-month fee on fixed lines to invest in broadband – will help the company fund the expansion of its next-generation network.There is a growing feeling in the City that BT may be turning the corner after a difficult time and that, as its cashflow grows, so will dividends. On that basis, analysts at Morgan Stanley raised their recommendation from equal weight to overweight, and their price target from 130p to 150p. The bank said: “With management now focused on cash generation, we think free cash flow could rise from £1.15bn in 2010 to £1.5bn in 2013, and long term it could be £1.9bn or higher. The dividend could therefore grow strongly again.”
www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/17/bt-ftse-broadband-digital-britainDigital Britain: new landline tax to pay for broadband roll-out
A new 50p per month broadband tax is to be levied on every home and business with a phone line under government plans to raise up to £1.5bn to pay for the next generation of internet connections.In his flagship Digital Britain report published today, communications minister Lord Carter also set himself on a collision course with the BBC with plans to divert money from the licence fee to fund a £200m investment in bringing existing broadband services to everyone in the country by 2012.
www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/16/broadband-tax-digital-britainEditorial: Digital Britain report: more sketch than blueprint
After 250 written responses, 12 “unconferences” (whatever they are) and “more than 500 bilateral engagements between stakeholders … and the core team”, yesterday saw the release of the government’s Digital Britain report. At 238 pages and 22 “action points”, innocent readers may have been reminded of Pascal’s rueful admission that with a bit more time he would have written a shorter letter; because this was a publication long on consultation and in many places frustratingly short on conclusion. With less than a year to go before the next general election, here was Gordon Brown’s big chance to mould a communications industry in its greatest flux in living memory; to use extra investment in media to help get Britain out of recession – and even to flesh out his much-fabled policy of industrial activism. Each of those goals was missed. In place of the digital revolution, the latest media secretary Ben Bradshaw offered up what the Conservatives attacked as “government of the management consultants, for the management consultants by the management consultants”.
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/17/digital-britain-reportTelephone tax to fund Britain’s digital future
The cost of a television licence will also go up £9 to £151.50 in 2012 when most of the increase will be diverted to support regional news on ITV, the first time licence fee cash has been offered to a broadcaster other than the BBC.The details were laid out yesterday in Digital Britain, a White Paper that aims to overhaul telecommunications and reshape the media landscape.
technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6515321.eceDigital Britain report: levy on phone lines to fund universal broadband
A levy will be established on all fixed telephone lines to help fund high speed broadband across Britain, Ben Bradshaw announced as he introduced the Digital Britain report.Speaking to MPs in the House of Commons, Mr Bradshaw, the Culture Secretary, confirmed that the small levy would establish an independent national fund to ensure “maximum next generation broadband coverage”.The report proposed a 50p-a-month levy on all fixed telephone lines to help bring next-generation broadband to the whole country.
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/5551508/Digital-Britain-report-levy-on-phone-lines-to-fund-universal-broadband.html
Leave a Reply