CWU Slams BIS Committee Conclusion

on Superfast Broadband Levy

The cross-party Business Innovation and Skills Committee has produced a report condemning as 'unfair' the Government's plans for a 50p levy on fixed telephone lines to fund superfast broadband across the UK

Andy Kerr, Deputy General Secretary said in response 'We are disappointed but not altogether surprised by the BIS Committee report. This comes from a Chairman who said that the levy would only apply to BT customers. If that basic level of detail can be got wrong, there was little chance of some of the more complex policy objectives being grasped. It is clear that the market unaided will not deliver fast broadband to all parts of the UK, and the broadband levy represents a modest solution to this problem from which low income households would be exempt.

'The Government's proposals for a Digital Britain seek to maintain the UK's economic competitiveness at a time when many other countries, including Finland, Germany and Australia, have committed to major public investment in superfast broadband. They also seek to ensure that all homes and businesses can share in the significant benefits presented by next generation broadband, such as improved access to high bandwidth media content and e-government health and education services.

'The Select Committee's report appears to reject the need for a world class Digital Britain, and its faith in the market to deliver faster speeds is risible when even now parts of London and other major cities cannot receive a 2Mb connection. What hope then for Mosedale in Cumbria, Crawfordjohn in Dumfries, Rhiw in Wales and Pomeroy in Northern Ireland? The signal from the Select Committee is that they care little for the modern communication needs of the millions of people in urban and rural areas whose full participation in society and the economy will depend on access to next generation broadband.

'The Committee's position that the levy places a 'disproportionate cost on the majority who are unable to reap the benefits of that charge' misses the central point that the levy is designed to build an essential plank of UK national infrastructure that will reach the majority and will benefit all through social cohesion and economic growth. To settle for 2Mb broadband and leave the rest to the market will stretch the digital divide into a chasm, and leave the UK trailing hopelessly behind its global competitors.' Click here to download our leaflet on the digital devide.

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