Chris

How did you get that impression?

It will be good for the economy. It will allow small home-grown businesses more freedom to start up in rural locations that could do with the boost and it will, in the long term, reduce the cost of delivering public services. A lot of government stuff is online now but they can't go for exclusive online delivery while a large minority of people are still unable to access it. A universal 2meg service will change all that.

I am on the end of a very long phone line myself but I can - usually - get slightly over 2 meg already. This allows me to work from home whenever it's appropriate. This is only the case because the Scottish Government paid BT to put broadband into my exchange. Prior to that I was on dial-up only, which was a real shock after moving from a house with TL cable broadband, I can tell you.

The availability of broadband at home has saved my employers lost productivity when weather has made commuting impossible and, in my most recent contract, has saved a small fortune in money and CO2 emissions as I have been able to work from home for more than a year now.

When this 50p levy results in booster equipment being installed on the lines up here, I hope to benefit from further speed increases, and people further up the line from me who currently don't get broadband at all will be able to get the same advantages I now have.