Comment from Schellion Horn, telecoms director at Deloitte, the business advisory firm, on Landline Duty:
"The Landline Duty leads to 50p per month being charged all copper lines, residential included, but low income households will be exempted from the levy. It will be charged and collected by the fixed line operator, passed to OfCom, which will then be put in the 'Next Generation Fund'. This is expected to raise £175m per annum.
"There are a number of issues that will need clarification surrounding the 50p broadband tax. There is likely to be an administrative burden on fixed line operators to amend billing systems and identify lines which are subject to the tax. Low income households will have to be on an approved social telephony scheme to obtain the relief – the details of which are not yet clear – although the news that lines used solely to provide television services will be exempt from the duty is welcome.
"Additionally, the broadband tax is unlikely to provide sufficient revenue to fund the roll-out of high speed broadband to the majority of the population, as set out in the Digital Britain report. It remains unclear how the short-fall will be funded – whether that will be through public subsidies or operators stepping in."
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