Broadband tax 'will help consumers get a fair deal'Thursday, December 10th 2009 The government's new tax on fixed phone lines will help consumers get access to better broadband deals, according to an expert. Government plans to introduce new tax on fixed phone lines will benefit broadband customers, it has been suggested.
Alistair Darling included proposals on the 50p-a-month rate in his pre-Budget report and Julie Owens of Moneysupermarket.com said that while the levy will be unfair on those without broadband, it is "a small price to pay" for the creation of a widespread fibre optic infrastructure.
She explained that while the likes of BT and Virgin Media are already working to upgrade networks, the government needs to ensure super-fast services are available across the UK.
"This is clearly a big commitment towards bridging the digital divide and on the face of it will go a long way to enable consumers get a fair deal, regardless of their location," she added.
"Not only will this open up the market, it will give them the option to search between a number of packages to suit their needs."
Broadband provider TalkTalk has previous spoken out against the plans, stating that they may lead many low-income homes to give up their web connections. |
| £15.00 for 3 months
then £28.00 | | | £5.00 for 3 months
then £12.50 | |
A total of 1.5 million premises are now able to access fibre optic broadband services from BT. Clodagh Murphy of Eclipse Internet has given her backing to Ofcom's calls for customers to be better informed about their likely broadband speed. Ofcom has revealed that the average speed of home broadband has increased. | The beta version of the Virgin Media Player has been released. The number of people signed up to 50Mb broadband with Virgin Media rose by 28 per cent in the second quarter. Ofcom's report into broadband speeds in the UK has been warmly received by Virgin Media. |
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