Labours former Communications Minister and author of the original Digital Britain (June 2009) report, Lord Stephen Carter, has told a Westminster eForum that he does "not agree" with delaying the 2Mbps UK broadband for all (Universal Service Commitment) from 2012 to 2015.


Carter also criticised the new coalition governments decision to scrap Labour's proposed 50p +vat per month tax on all fixed telephone lines in the country. The tax would have generated £175m per year that could have been put towards rolling out next generation broadband networks (Next Generation Fund), although it was somewhat unpopular.


As an alternative the new government has proposed to, from 2012, use part of the BBC's TV Licence fee (3.5% Digital Switchover Budget) to help fund a rollout of "super-fast" and universal broadband solutions to areas of the country that are unlikely to benefit from private sector investment. However the BBC funds are worth a lot less (approx £130m).

While debate surrounding the defunct tax will probably continue, the new government's decision to delay Labour's 2012 2Mbps USC target to 2015 came as less of a shock. Delays to the Mobile Broadband spectrum auctions were already evident before the election and no practical progress had really been made towards solving the underlying problem.