Avanti welcomes 50p broadband tax

17th Jun 2009 07:42

Satellite operator Avanti Communications has welcomed the government's plans to impose a charge to fund the development of fast broadband services to rural communities."Satellite broadband is the only technically proven and economically viable solution to the problem of the 10% of population identified by the Digital Britain report and we welcome the announcement that the provision of service to these consumers will be accelerated by government intervention and funding, which we expect to benefit our HYLAS satellite," said Avanti chief executive David Williams.The government unveiled the plan for a levy, which would raise up to £175m per year, yesterday as part of its Digital Britain proposals. It will raise seedcorn money for expanding "next-generation" broadband networks to rural areas."With approximately 17.6m broadband lines installed, the planned fund's 50p per line per month supplement would generate over £100m per annum. Avanti is confident that 50Mb Universal Broadband can be delivered by the Hercules project comfortably within these resources," Williams added.