Broadband tax on the way?

[darren-b]

In my opinion, the Internet should be free anyway.

Al.

Don't you actually mean paid for by tax payers?

[Northerner]

This tax is nonsense to begin with. They say the money is needed to build the next generation internet, but if they simply mandated private industry did the upgrades by 2020, then the companies would simply increase their prices to cover their costs...

And the taxpayer could stay out of it.. Only those of us using the internet would pay for the upgrades.

But the truth is, the 50p tax is just the start. Given a few years it would be a good £5... easy

[darren-b]

This tax is nonsense to begin with. They say the money is needed to build the next generation internet, but if they simply mandated private industry did the upgrades by 2020, then the companies would simply increase their prices to cover their costs...

And the taxpayer could stay out of it.. Only those of us using the internet would pay for the upgrades.

But the truth is, the 50p tax is just the start. Given a few years it would be a good £5... easy

That isn't going to work, when even now Virgin Media aren't even in a position to enable all of the main town and cities, nevermind all the tiny villages in the middle of nowhere.

I don't necessarily support the idea, but when currently ~65% of the UK households have broadband internet it starts to make little difference where you fund it from.

[walesrob]

That isn't going to work, when even now Virgin Media aren't even in a position to enable all of the main town and cities, nevermind all the tiny villages in the middle of nowhere.

Agree, its a tax that will only benefit large population areas. Where I live, BT have the monopoly as the ADSL supplier (i.e. no cable, no LLU, nothing, just BT ADSL) and having spoken to Talk Talk and 02, they have no plans to install their own gear in such a small exchange, and I doubt Virgin will either. Even Aberystwyth, considered to be the cultural capital of Wales, the home of the UWA and now some Welsh Assembly offices, also only has BT ADSL, nothing else. Its going to take more than a feeble £5 tax.

[bornatbirth]

Agree, its a tax that will only benefit large population areas. Where I live, BT have the monopoly as the ADSL supplier (i.e. no cable, no LLU, nothing, just BT ADSL) and having spoken to Talk Talk and 02, they have no plans to install their own gear in such a small exchange, and I doubt Virgin will either. Even Aberystwyth, considered to be the cultural capital of Wales, the home of the UWA and now some Welsh Assembly offices, also only has BT ADSL, nothing else. Its going to take more than a feeble £5 tax.

you could move to the mainland

[walesrob]

you could move to the mainland

Theres always one.....

[IainBusby]

Agree, its a tax that will only benefit large population areas. Where I live, BT have the monopoly as the ADSL supplier (i.e. no cable, no LLU, nothing, just BT ADSL) and having spoken to Talk Talk and 02, they have no plans to install their own gear in such a small exchange, and I doubt Virgin will either. Even Aberystwyth, considered to be the cultural capital of Wales, the home of the UWA and now some Welsh Assembly offices, also only has BT ADSL, nothing else. Its going to take more than a feeble £5 tax.

As BT own what is known as the backbone and everything apart from cable goes through that, you have to either buy your internet access from a cable company, or a company that pays BT for the use of their infrastructure.

BT has always been the real problem in this country. Because they are known as a blue chip company as far as the stock market is concerned, they've been afraid to invest in improved infrastructure and because of their monopoly they have held up progress with regard to communications systems in general. If a company like virgin says they are going to invest millions on their systems, their share price goes up, but if BT says the same thing, their share price goes down.

Because they are blue chip (a bankers share) the majority of their shares are held by pension funds and institutions ect and that is because they are regarded as a safe bet, not too exciting, but pretty safe as far as the share price is concerned and always likely to pay a reasonable dividend. Unfortunately this has led to them just sitting on their hands and trying to maximise the income stream from what they already have a monopoly on, the infrastructure.

Iain.

[Arthur Little]

Only those of us using the internet would pay for the upgrades.

But how can it be determined WHO'S using the internet ... and who ISN'T?

[darren-b]

Agree, its a tax that will only benefit large population areas. Where I live, BT have the monopoly as the ADSL supplier (i.e. no cable, no LLU, nothing, just BT ADSL) and having spoken to Talk Talk and 02, they have no plans to install their own gear in such a small exchange, and I doubt Virgin will either. Even Aberystwyth, considered to be the cultural capital of Wales, the home of the UWA and now some Welsh Assembly offices, also only has BT ADSL, nothing else. Its going to take more than a feeble £5 tax.

Just reading more and it's the opposite. It's a tax that will benefit the rural areas (about a third of the country) where it is not economically viable to install the next generation networks. So you ought to be totally supporting it.

But how can it be determined WHO'S using the internet ... and who ISN'T?

I think Northerner means it's paid for those who are currently paying for the internet.

I ought to be totally against the tax as I pay for my phone line though I don't pay for my broadband, and I currently live in an area that is economically viable to install the next generation networks. But I can see the point of it if it's used correctly.