£6 levy won’t pay for broadband roll-out

A £6 annual broadband tax will not be enough to fund fibre broadband to the entire country, a BT exectutive has said.

Olivia Garfield, group director of strategy and portfolio for BT, said at a briefing yesterday that the tax would not pay for every home in the UK to have fibre broadband, but rather 80 to 85 per cent would get access.

A spokesperson from BT said: “Over ten years, we are looking at £1 billion raised from the levy which would only cover 80 to 85 per cent.”

The spokesperson also told IT PRO that the company hadn’t been informed about the proposed tax until after the press were told.

He said: “There was no input on the levy from BT, as we had no prior knowledge. To say it came out of the blue might be a cliché statement, but it really did.”

The spokesperson also stressedthat the government had made two promises regarding the future of broadband, and each were to be met with separate funds.

He said: “The Next Generation fund will be paid for by this 50p tax to ensure and support fibre roll out. However the Universal Service Commitment (USC) fund paid for by the BBC digital switchover fund relates to the 2MB promise.”

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