The government’s plans to bring broadband within the reach of every home by 2012 have been put in jeopardy by BT. The telecoms operator has warned that it will take legal action if the government presses ahead in the new year with plans to liberalise the nation’s mobile phone spectrum.
BT’s move could derail a key part of the government’s Digital Britain programme. The government’s pledge to introduce universal broadband access of at least 2Mb a second in time for the London Olympics was seen as one of the least contentious parts of the final Digital Britain report in June. But universal access requires changes to the way the airwaves are split between the UK’s five mobile phone networks, so they can run mobile broadband services in rural areas where fixed-line services are too slow. It also requires the sale of new space on the spectrum that will be freed-up when the analogue TV signal is switched off in 2012.
To read this report in The Guardian in full, see: www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/28/bt-broadband-digital-britain
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