A leaked Government document covered in a piece in the "Times" gives some more detail about the proposed levy to raise a fund to contribute to the roll-out of next generation broadband to the so-called final third of the country.
According to this document, the levy will apply to each line (and not just one line per household) and to fibre connections as well as copper ones. Also it will be subject to VAT so it will not be 50p per line per month but 59p.
Although the Conservatives and TalkTalk have opposed the levy, others - such as the Broadband Stakeholder Group and the Communications Consumer Panel - have seen the need for a next generation fund. In her remarks to a Westminster eForum this week, Panel Chair Anna Bradley said:
".. the UK's broadband infrastructure will need to meet consumers' future needs. To this end the Panel supports the ‘Final Third' Fund as a way of stimulating the deployment of NGA where the business case for commercial rollout does not stack up. We should not wait until some indeterminate point in the future to find out the precise limits of market-led NGA rollout. The maximum benefits to the economy and to society will come from public investment in NGA now. And this investment will cost less if it happens alongside commercial rollout."
Earlier this week, I attended the latest and largest event on next generation access organised by the Community Broadband Network. This was a one and a half day conference at the Royal Armories.
The event was addressed by both Opposition spokesperson Ed Vaizey and Government Minister Stephen Timms. I asked each about the proposal in the Digital Britain Final Report that there be a next generation levy, that is 50 p per month per fixed line to help fund the roll-out of next generation access to the so-called final third of the country.
Ed Vaizey was totally opposed to the proposal which he called "this evil Labour tax". He said that it was "an analogue solution to a digital problem". He was concerned that much of a next generation fund would be swallowed up by administrative and consultants' costs and that in any event the sums raised by the levy would be inadequate but, above all, he did not favour "a top-down approach".
By contrast, Stephen Timms argued that the levy was necessary if NGA was to reach most parts of the country and he was determined to see the measure in the Finance Bill. He acknowledged that there is a political convention that, if a General Election is called before a Finance Bill has reached the Statute Book, then the controversial parts are dropped and a short uncontroversial Bill is passed. In that context and referring to the prospect of the levy staying in the Bill, he admitted that "There is scope for the Opposition to make that difficult". He insisted "I want it in the Bill" but conceded "I cannot give you a cast-iron guarantee".
You can hear the full record of my question to the Minister and his response by clicking here and scrolling down to "Stephen Timms MP answers questions at NextGen09 (1)".
At the November meeting the panel reviewed our work on digital participation. We have been developing a digital participation framework to help guide the work that is going on by Ofcom in digital participation and digital inclusion (race online 2012) and ensure it is focussed on those areas in which consumers have the greatest need. We are really pleased to see that others are already referring to the framework as they develop their priorities. The framework is research-based and is supported by a literature review which draws together consumer research on digital inclusion. We agreed to further develop this review with a look at the academic literature on the issues and to do some in-depth research with consumers to understand more about their journeys toward digital inclusion. We hope to complete this work by the end of the financial year.
We also began the process of building our workplan for next year. We took a regular six monthly review of work on consumer policy and enforcement. We asked for these six monthly overview reports so we can keep our eyes on the entirety of the programme and identify the specifics that we want to know more about. On this occasion we asked to have some more information about work that it is proposed on rollover contracts. Alongside this report we also had a six monthly update from payphone plus. We also had two papers from Ofcom on European issues; one covering the digital agenda and a second the general consumer protection agenda. Finally we took a paper on some potential future issues relating to public expectations of the internet and had a technology demonstration which helped to bring us up to speed on some imminent market developments.
We gave some advice to Ofcom on all of these issues, but we also considered our own draft workplan on the back of our discussions. The result was a much longer list of possible issues for next year than we have resource to address. Now we begin the task of prioritising our own work according to the criteria we have established which are: What is the scale of the issue? and Can the Panel make a difference? The workplan will be out for wider consultation in February 2010.
Finally, we agreed a process for appraising the performance of the Panel as a whole, and for each of the members. We want to ensure that we keep ourselves on our toes by reflecting on what we have done, but at the same time we are anxious not to introduce a heavy weight of bureaucracy which will detract from our ability to deliver advice. The result is a process which is much more arduous at the time at which members might come up for re-appointment and includes third party feedback, with a lighter touch approach in other years. Having said this we would encourage anyone who wants to feedback on the Panel's performance to do so whenever they have something to say, in whatever way seems most appropriate; it can only help us to improve what we do and the way we do it.
Earlier this week, I attended the latest and largest (260 participants) event on next generation access organised by the Community Broadband Network. This was a one and a half day conference at the Royal Armories.
As a member of the Communications Consumer Panel, I was pleased that the Minister mentioned the Panel's latest review of local NGA schemes and that another speaker, Graeme Dent of Digital Region, showed the Panel video on the experience of the NGA schemes in Utah and Nuenen.
I chaired a workshop on digital inclusion addressed by Jillian Pitt of Consumer Focus, Vicki Hanson of Dundee University, and Martin Cantor of Barnsley Council.
At the conference, there was a palpable sense of excitement that NGA is now happening and that local schemes have a vital role to play with the largest of these (Digital Region) being in the host region for the event.