MPs to have their say on Broadband speeds
Following just weeks behind the Digital Britain report, the MPs of the Enterprise Committee and the Commons Business department are about to look into broadband speeds across the UK.
Their aim is to decide if the speed of 2Mbps outlined in the report is a high enough and sufficient enough goal. It will also debate if the broadband tax via fixed phone bills is fair.
The tax denotes that all users of a fixed phone line will owe a 50p tax each month to help fund weak broadband spans in mostly rural areas that have been neglected by the major broadband provides.
The news follows criticism of the report that the funds generated will not be enough to fund the project and that 2Mbps is too small of an aim for the Government by the year 2012.
Co-founder of the broadband SamKnows website, Alex Salter, however, has stated that he believes the tax is the one of the best and only ways to increase the broadband speeds in rural areas. He also says that the public should keep in mind that 2Mbps is only a minimum and that the results could be higher.
Salter also questioned that the goal, while reasonable, may actually be threatened not by finding, but from changes in the political makeup of the Government as the years pass and the party politics refocus their efforts.
Communications Minister, Lord Carter, was responsible for writing the initial Digital Britain Report which took eight months to complete.
