£6 Broadband Tax Promised Before Election

Isn't the phone line on the way out anyway? With mobiles and Skype its already expensive to pay for a land line that doesn't get used. This tax could kill it off...

Perhaps the government are trying to get the mobile phone companies to contribute to their election campaign?

@Epic Virgin don't cover the anything like the whole country with their network and £28.8bn is also a scare tactic figure from BT. I agree that the tax is a total waste of time and will probably lead me to just having mobile broadband as in my area it's just as fast as wired.

Virgin's cable network covers most high density metropolitan areas but is nowhere near as extensive as BT's copper network.
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/llu-operator/virgin

Why not make the existing infrastructure available to more ISPs and make Virgin a de facto BT Wholesale type provider? Then look at either providing fibre optic to the cabinet/home for those in economically worthwhile areas (popn density determined I suppose) who currently don't have cable and/or look to extending wireless provision in remoter areas? I agree it doesn't make sense to cable up absolutely everywhere. Provision should be based on which technologies work best in given areas taking into account cost/benefits per capita.

We do need investment, the internet is no small thing. There are so many ingenious ways to provide it it seems a shame the question of how we pay for it should be such a thorny issue (as ever it is when the public are expected to pay for something collectively good).

The funny thing is BT offered to do this at their own cost years ago. Still, it needs to be done, you can't leave it up to one commercial player (Virgin). People piss and moan about taxes too much, it not like the average broadband subscriber is going to miss 50p a month.. and you'll get fantastic broadband band for it quicker, easier, more widely available and ultimately cheaper that if it was left to Virgin Media. Indeed, Japan and Korea have both shown that the only way to get a widely available high-speed network is for the state to do it.