A tax of 50p per month will be forced on every home that has a fixed landline as the government looks at ways to get broadband services to rural communities.
Chancellor Alistair Darling announced the £6 per year tax in his pre-budget report.
This will support Digital Britain and is part of the government's plan to reach 90% of the UK's population with broadband.
Darling said the government would be investing £200m in the rollout of broadband under the Digital Britain programme as part of the government's Universal Service Commitment.
"This a Universal Service Commitment in broadband by 2012 and providing further support to achieve private sector roll-out of next generation broadband to 90 per cent of the population by 2017," said Darling.
Email Alerts
Register now to receive ComputerWeekly.com IT-related news, guides and more, delivered to your inbox.
By submitting you agree to receive email from TechTarget and its partners. If you reside outside of the United States, you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Privacy
