The EC has expressed its confusion over the proposed levy of £6 every year by the British government for advancement of the broadband speeds to 2Mb all over the country. The levy amounting to a mere 50 pence a month by every broadband user will contribute towards the expected expenditure of over £200 million for upgrade of broadband speeds all over the country as well as improvement in the overall infrastructure. The proposed broadband levy, however, might turn out to be in violation of the competition rules of the EC.
A competition spokesperson said that any determination regarding violation of the competition rules, concerning the limits on state aid for industry, could be made only after the government has clarified the implementation of the said levy. The EC authorities are now busy checking if the proposed levy would disobey the competition rules with respect to the mode of funding to be applied. They are not yet sure about whether the mode of proposed funding would comply with the competition rules as currently in force.
The controversy was raised by publication of the divisive tax plan in the Digital Britain report. The author of the contentious report, Lord Carter clarified that the contribution to the extent of £6 a year as levy has been proposed in order to counter the competitive trends in the market by decreasing the headline prices. However, until it is clarified as to how the scheme would be implemented following the report, no action can be taken by the EC in this regard. They cannot decide beforehand whether the rules would be broken by such action or not and would have to wait for some conclusive indication to that effect. For information on your ISP, mobile broadband genie is a good site to look at for provider reviews and news from the likes of three mobile broadband and the other top internet service providers.
