Statement on report from BIS select committee criticising broadband tax proposal

"TalkTalk welcomes the conclusions of the BIS Select Committee.

Its findings chime with what we have been saying since the tax was first mooted last summer - it is an unfair and regressive way of funding superfast broadband which would deliver less benefit than it will cost and in fact slow roll-out.

If this or any future Government does want to provide universal broadband and it is found that the market can’t meet that need, it should be funded, like any other national infrastructure project, out of general taxation, not by taxing the less well-off who use landline phones to subsidise the relatively wealthy who want high speed access to the internet."