Broadband tax 'to be made law'

Wreckless Rat · 24-09-09, 08:32

Quote:

A controversial broadband tax should be law before the next election, according to Minister for Digital Britain Stephen Timms.

The 50 pence a month tax will apply to everyone with a fixed line telephone.

Speaking at a debate in London, Mr Timms said the tax will be presented to parliament as part of the Finance Bill.
But the Tory MP John Whittingdale said the tax, which could raise up to £175m a year to fund high speed networks, would be opposed by the Conservatives.

Taxed for having a phone line, so not so much of a B/Band tax as a telephone tax.

175m a year is peanuts in the scale of bringing the UK upto spec when it comes to high speed networks, further I doubt the money will even head that way anyway. It will just be swolled up by mahoosive Gvmt debt.

easy now andy · 24-09-09, 08:41

Sounds Familiar

if they put the money to implementing a new infrastructure and then can the tax, fair enough. however like you say it'll get swallowed up elsewhere.

i can see the point of it being linked to a phone line though, in a few years i can see VOIP via fibre taking over from phone calls over the existing copper. i'm gussing it'll use the same backbone.

Dai · 24-09-09, 08:42

Is this tax to be added before or after the VAT aleady levied on telphone/cable lines?

Complete toss quite frankly. £175m a year will probably equate to fibre to the kerb for a couple of counties a year, assuming that the counties are urban and near modern telephone exchanges.

coulson73 · 24-09-09, 08:43

what do they class as a fixed landline

Is it only those who have a BT phone? Or does it include those that have a landline that is not run by BT i.e Virgin

So everyone who has broadband, which is provided over a BT line (the majority of the ISPs in the UK apart form Virgin or Mobile broadband), whether they use the phone service or not will also get clobbered.

Just appears to be another tax to try to get out of the budget black hole, unles they ring fence the tax....highly unlikely imo.

Spliffyaid · 24-09-09, 08:43

I would happily pay £12.50 a year for fibre to the house

At the moment all i can get is 512k !!!!

Dai · 24-09-09, 08:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by easy now andy

Sounds Familiar

if they put the money to implementing a new infrastructure and then can the tax, fair enough. however like you say it'll get swallowed up elsewhere.

i can see the point of it being linked to a phone line though, in a few years i can see VOIP via fibre taking over from phone calls over the existing copper. i'm gussing it'll use the same backbone.

Much of the backbones of modern telephony netwoks, both fixed and mobile, are already fibre. The issue is transmission capacity from the home/office to that fibre backbone.

Wreckless Rat · 24-09-09, 08:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by easy now andy

Sounds Familiar

if they put the money to implementing a new infrastructure and then can the tax, fair enough. however like you say it'll get swallowed up elsewhere.

i can see the point of it being linked to a phone line though, in a few years i can see VOIP via fibre taking over from phone calls over the existing copper. i'm gussing it'll use the same backbone.

BT's 21CN is already being rolled out, supposedly bringing the UK up to a highspeed national network. Why should we be taxed for a private service that we will of course, be charged to use?

BT should be stopped from wasting billions on projects it can't manange if it then can't afford to refresh the infrastructure. Unless of course we are all going to get a cut of the dividends once the work is done.

Dai · 24-09-09, 08:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wreckless Rat

BT's 21CN is already being rolled out, supposedly bringing the UK up to a highspeed national network. Why should we be taxed for a private service that we will of course, be charged to use?

...

Not sure that 21CN is intended to provide fibre to the kerb/door though. It's about updating their core network and backbone.

To defend BT a little (no I have no vested interet) they are pushed down a particular path by OFCOM and as a private company have other, often conflicting, demands to meet.

In my opinion the whole problem comes down to poor investment over a number of years brought about/compounded by bad regulation.

Tomcat · 24-09-09, 08:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wreckless Rat

I doubt the money will even head that way anyway. It will just be swolled up by mahoosive Gvmt debt.

Nail on head. Any new tax won't be spent on improving what is taxed, any more than road tax is spent on the roads.

waxy88 · 24-09-09, 08:53

I soooooooooooooo cannot wait to leave this f-ing cuntry.

Wreckless Rat · 24-09-09, 08:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dai

Not sure that 21CN is intended to provide fibre to the kerb/door though. It's about updating their core network and backbone.

To defend BT a little (no I have no vested interet) they are pushed down a particular path by OFCOM and as a private company have other, often conflicting, demands to meet.

In my opinion the whole problem comes down to poor investment over a number of years brought about/compounded by bad regulation.

It is. However a yearly tax of £175m isn't going to get fibre to the door either.

The 21CN should improve core networks right out to local exchanges. If you look in your local exchange you will now find a fibre rack. However BT aren't suddenly going to run out fibre to every home unless they are forced to.

They are now starting to trial 1mb B/Band upto 12KM from the exchange to meet the gmt 'order' of all houses to have b/band availabilty. Not rally highspeed though is it. lol.

Go to many of our EU or worldwide countries and 20-100mb to the home is quite common. Not just in city centres either.

Pirahna · 24-09-09, 08:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomcat

Nail on head. Any new tax won't be spent on improving what is taxed, any more than road tax is spent on the roads.

No such thing as road tax, it's called vehicle excise duty. The road fund ceased to be in 1937, since then all money collected has gone straight to the Exchequer.

Dai · 24-09-09, 09:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wreckless Rat

It is. However a yearly tax of £175m isn't going to get fibre to the door either.

The 21CN should improve core networks right out to local exchanges. If you look in your local exchange you will now find a fibre rack. However BT aren't suddenly going to run out fibre to every home unless they are forced to.

They are now starting to trial 1mb B/Band upto 12KM from the exchange to meet the gmt 'order' of all houses to have b/band availabilty. Not rally highspeed though is it. lol.

Go to many of our EU or worldwide countries and 20-100mb to the home is quite common. Not just in city centres either.

I agree entirely with your sentiments. I think we're way behind other countries and this tax is going to contribute the square root of fuck all. It was the same with cable though.

Lostboy · 24-09-09, 09:03

Surely a quicker way of raising £175m (a piss poor amount) would be to simply to take the bonuses that are on the table in the "nationalised" banks at the moment.

Ooops, silly me, they didn't actually take any management stake when they invested all those billions in the banks and aren't able to do that.

Fuckwits.

go_slow · 24-09-09, 09:09

I think most people are missing the point of this. Having a good broadband architecture in this country is the way forward. Commercially its not good sense to run fibre out to remote communities so that part of the infrastructure needs to be funded somehow so that everyone has access to a good level of broadband.

Without that access for everyone then people will miss out. You talk about goverment spending, how much could be saved with services accessible online, quality of life for people since they would be able to work from home and/or do most of their interaction with government online also.

24-09-09, 08:41	#2
easy now andy dog eating hot chips Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: surrey/hants/w.sussex borders Posts: 14,737 Cash: £1353600 Thanks: 390 Thanked: 119/108	Re: Broadband tax 'to be made law' Sounds Familiar if they put the money to implementing a new infrastructure and then can the tax, fair enough. however like you say it'll get swallowed up elsewhere. i can see the point of it being linked to a phone line though, in a few years i can see VOIP via fibre taking over from phone calls over the existing copper. i'm gussing it'll use the same backbone.

24-09-09, 08:42	#3
Dai Not Much To Do Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 779 Cash: £1658800 Thanks: 30 Thanked: 10/9	Re: Broadband tax 'to be made law' Is this tax to be added before or after the VAT aleady levied on telphone/cable lines? Complete toss quite frankly. £175m a year will probably equate to fibre to the kerb for a couple of counties a year, assuming that the counties are urban and near modern telephone exchanges.
	at work...

24-09-09, 08:43	#4
coulson73 Not Much To Do Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Manchester Posts: 365 Cash: £1740725 Thanks: 0 Thanked: 3/3	Re: Broadband tax 'to be made law' what do they class as a fixed landline Is it only those who have a BT phone? Or does it include those that have a landline that is not run by BT i.e Virgin So everyone who has broadband, which is provided over a BT line (the majority of the ISPs in the UK apart form Virgin or Mobile broadband), whether they use the phone service or not will also get clobbered. Just appears to be another tax to try to get out of the budget black hole, unles they ring fence the tax....highly unlikely imo.

24-09-09, 08:43	#5
Spliffyaid Should Get Out More Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: In my garage Posts: 8,639 Cash: £3002002 Thanks: 98 Thanked: 72/66	Re: Broadband tax 'to be made law' I would happily pay £12.50 a year for fibre to the house At the moment all i can get is 512k !!!!
	Fuelledby1664Iftheaboveposthasnorelevancetothethreadisgarbledmi sspeltorramblingonisderogatoryorabusiveinanywaysha peorformIcannotandwillnotbeheldresponsibleforanyac tionspostsorviewspostedwhilstundera1664cloudymist Im on THE list (Where IS Mike Wilde?) edit, he is back

24-09-09, 08:53	#10
waxy88 Not Much To Do Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 347 Cash: £1511800 Thanks: 2 Thanked: 3/2	Re: Broadband tax 'to be made law' I soooooooooooooo cannot wait to leave this f-ing cuntry.


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24-09-09, 09:03	#14
Lostboy At Work Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 1,033 Cash: £1526800 Thanks: 1 Thanked: 39/37	Re: Broadband tax 'to be made law' Surely a quicker way of raising £175m (a piss poor amount) would be to simply to take the bonuses that are on the table in the "nationalised" banks at the moment. Ooops, silly me, they didn't actually take any management stake when they invested all those billions in the banks and aren't able to do that. Fuckwits.

24-09-09, 09:09	#15
go_slow At Work Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: In a caravan outside london during the week, Isle of Wight at weekends Posts: 1,767 Cash: £7485199 Blog Entries: 12 Thanks: 372 Thanked: 354/299	Re: Broadband tax 'to be made law' I think most people are missing the point of this. Having a good broadband architecture in this country is the way forward. Commercially its not good sense to run fibre out to remote communities so that part of the infrastructure needs to be funded somehow so that everyone has access to a good level of broadband. Without that access for everyone then people will miss out. You talk about goverment spending, how much could be saved with services accessible online, quality of life for people since they would be able to work from home and/or do most of their interaction with government online also.

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Broadband tax 'to be made law'

A controversial broadband tax should be law before the next election, according to Minister for Digital Britain Stephen Timms. The 50 pence a month tax ...