Chancellor Darling confirms 50p broadband tax again

The controversial 50p tax on landliners would fund the super-fast broadband project that will cover 90% of the UK homes by 2017, the UK Chancellor Alistair Darling said today, during his Budget speech.

Faster broadband services will lead the UK to become a digital world leader while offering huge benefits like more employment, easy and efficient governance and less public expenditure, he added.

High-speed broadband should not be for only the cities and the well-off, but its benefits should reach rural communities, he went on.

However, the broadband tax proposals have so far received mixed reactions from the experts and ISPs for the reason that the move could make many low-income families leave broadband.

Tories oppose the Labour tax measures on the ground that it is too early to use public funds for superfast broadband rollout. It proposes using a part of BBC license fee to build high-speed networks in rural areas and to extend 100Mbps broadband to most of the homes by 2017.