Digital Britain: Why every Briton will be charged an extra 50p per month

The publication of the Digital Britain report was posted late yesterday, bringing with it news on how a universal service obligation of providing every home in Britain with a broadband service of at least 2Mb would be achieved, along with details on how the government intends to tackle illegal file sharing.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite get down to the nitty gritty on how the government plans to instigate the subjects mentioned in the report. But, it did go some way to explain how a national fund will be created to subsidise the project.

Most significant is the news every Briton will be forced to pay 50p per month to subsidise the installation of an improved broadband network across the country. This will be collected by adding a levy on telephone lines, ensuring most would be granted access to broadband. Speaking on this decision, the report author Lord Carter explained: “It is a contribution which we are asking people to make – it's six pounds a year – offset, as we make very clear in the report, by the likely continued reduction in headline prices because of the competitive market we have in this country.”

It is hoped the introduction of this levy will go some way to offsetting the £200m worth of funding that is needed to extend broadband access to 15 per cent of UK homes by 2012. Although, some of this money will also come from remaining funds left over from the digital switchover campaign.

Plenty of space was also dedicated to explaining how the government intends to combat the growing problem of illegal file-sharing. As a start, regulator Ofcom and individual internet service providers have been given greater powers to identify illegal downloaders and threaten legal action for the offenders. If the level of piracy hasn't reduced by 70 per cent after 12 months of sending out a letter internet service providers will also be required to punish illegal downloaders by squashing their bandwidth or protocol blocking as a last resort.

Other topics such as a the liberalisation of 3G spectrum and the digital radio upgrade also featured.

The report has met with widespread criticism, particularly in light of the news the author, Lord Carter has already announced he's stepping down from Government.