Digital Britain: Main points

Here are the main points:

- Every household in Britain will have a 50p tax levied on their phone line every month to pay for the roll out of the next-generation of broadband

- Universal access to broadband by 2012 with a minimum connection speed of 2Mbps

- Creation of Britain as a 'Digital Capital'

- Create a fund to invest in next generation broadband network

- All radio stations to move from analogue to digital by 2015

- The government will pass legislation to curb unlawful peer to peer file-sharing with media regulator Ofcom given new powers.

- Co-founder of Lastminute.com Martha Lane Fox is to become the government's broadband tsar

- The BBC's will have its license fee 'top-sliced' to fund regional TV.

Actions

The "small levy" of 50p a month on telephone lines will fund the roll out and the building of the next-generation fibre optic broadband network.

To get everyone online in the UK the government has created a fund of £12m over three years under its Universal Service Commitment (USC).

Digital Britain estimates that around 11 per cent or 2.75 million homes cannot currently achieve speeds of 2Mbps.

The report identifies solutions by improving faulty wiring and delivering broadband by satellite so that by 2012 universal broadband of 2Mbps will be a reality.

Ofcom's increased powers will require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to accept two conditions:

- They will be asked to notify households that are downloading and sharing content illegally. Also Digital Britain will use court orders to compel ISPs to hand over data from repeat offenders so that they can be prosecuted.

- 'Technical solutions' such as bandwidth capping, slowing down the speed of an internet connection and/or capping the data allowance are also enshrined in the government's response to illegal file-sharing. These are only to be used as a last resort according to the Digital Britain report.

To deliver next-generation high-speed mobile and wireless broadband 3G licences holders should be given the option to retain them indefinitely.

This proposition will "provide certainty for investment and an incentive towards greater roll-out towards universality" according to Digital Britain.