UK's broadband future revealed Monday

The industry group set up to help drive the Government's broadband strategy is due to publish its final report on Monday.

In September, the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) submitted its draft findings to e-commerce Minister Douglas Alexander arguing that services need to be subsidised to stimulate take-up.

The report claimed that the pricing of ADSL is a "huge issue" and warned that the proposed price point of around £50 a month is regarded as a "death knell for ADSL".

Instead, the BSG said the cost of ADSL for home users should be between £20 and £30 a month, which would put it on a par with countries such as Korea and Singapore.

It called for major spending proposals and tax breaks in a bid to kick-start the UK's broadband industry.

However, whether these proposals are kept in the final report when it's published on Monday remains to be seen.

It's thought that some of the more ambitious proposals in the original report will be left out and others simply watered-down.

Research seen by The Register that found that Britain would still be a middle-ranking broadband nation by 2005 even if the Government adopted all the recommendations contained in the BSG report is also likely to be omitted.

The Government is also due to issue its formal response to the report on Monday. ®
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Related link</>
First Report of the Broadband Stakeholder Group