The Digital Britain report was a policy document published in 2009, which outlined the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Government's strategic vision for ensuring that the country is at the leading edge of the global

digital economy The digital economy is a portmanteau of digital computing and economy, and is an umbrella term that describes how traditional Brick and mortar, brick-and-mortar economic activities (production, distribution, trade) are being transformed by Interne ...

. The

Digital Economy Act 2010 The Digital Economy Act 2010 (c. 24) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act addresses media policy issues related to digital media, including copyright infringement, Internet domain names, Channel 4 media content, local ra ...

was one of the outcomes of this policy.

History

The UK government announced on 29 January 2009 that it planned to have 100%

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

coverage in the UK by 2012, with a minimum speed of 2

Mbit/s In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols (baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are multi ...

. Some industry experts, including broadband think tank PointTopic and measurement site SamKnows, claimed that these plans were ill thought out. However, a government-backed forum hoped to address such issues, with a view to succeeding within the 2012 deadline. Closely based on a 2007 government-commissioned think tank report from The Work Foundation, the final Digital Britain report was released on 16 June 2009, and made a number of recommendations with regard to broadband access,

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

use and

public service broadcasting Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

. Among these recommendations were: * Three year plan to boost digital participation * Universal access to broadband by 2012 * Fund to invest in next generation broadband *

Digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting syst ...

upgrade by 2015 * Liberalisation of 3G spectrum * Support for public service content partnerships * Changed role for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

* Consultation on how to fund local, national and regional news * A new "more robust system" for the classification of video games In August 2009, responsibility for the project was moved to

Stephen Timms Sir Stephen Creswell Timms (born 29 July 1955) is a British politician who served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2006 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham, formerly Newham North Eas ...

, the Financial Secretary, who was previously the minister responsible for

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

and used to work in the telecoms industry. He reported to

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...

. Mandelson had been seeking a legal and regulatory attack on

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

statutory instrument In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation. United Kingdom Statutory instruments are the principal form of delegated or secondary legislation in the United Kingdom. National government Statutory instrument ...

. In November 2009 he added these measures into the Digital Economy Bill, but faced objections from leading internet companies. The

Pre-Budget Report The Spring Statement of the British Government, also known as the "mini-budget", is one of the two statements HM Treasury makes each year to Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament upon publication of economic forecasts, the second taking pla ...

in December 2009 included a new tax of £6 p.a. on home land lines to fund the expansion of broadband. This was included in the

March 2010 United Kingdom Budget The March 2010 United Kingdom Budget, official known as Budget 2010: Securing the recovery, was delivered by Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 24 March 2010. The budget speech outlined the Labour Government ...

, but dropped from the Finance Bill due to lack of time after the general election was called. In his Budget speech, Chancellor

Alistair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...

had also announced

tax break Tax break also known as tax preferences, tax concession, and tax relief, are a method of reduction to the tax liability of taxpayers. Government usually applies them to stimulate the economy and increase the solvency of the population. By this fis ...

s for the British

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...

, and reiterated the Government's target of 90% Broadband coverage by 2017—but omitted to repeat the target of 100% by 2020. In March 2010 the

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills , type = Department , logo = Department for Business, Innovation and Skills logo.svg , logo_width = 200px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Лондан. 2014. Жнівень 26.JPG , seal = , se ...

announced the National Plan for Digital Participation, aiming "to ensure that everyone who wants to be online can get online, do more online and benefit from the advantages of being online."

References

{{Reflist

External links

Digital Britain Forum
Official discussion and feedback site
Digital Britain
Official information and reports
National Plan for Digital ParticipationGovernment to look at low-cost ideas to fulfil Digital Britain promiseThe Archived Digital Britain Website
Internet in the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

External links