Orange offers UK broadband for all
March 20, 2009
Mobile phone company Orange has offered to set up a UK-wide broadband network to meet the ambitions of Lord Carter for universal access — in return for a share of the radio spectrum owned by Vodafone and O2.
Orange, which has more than 1 million residential broadband users in the UK, made its proposals in the first batch of submissions to the communications minister’s interim Digital Britain report, which outlined the government’s communications vision for broadband access to the future of digital radio.
But it has also emerged that there is little support within the internet industry for Carter’s plans to defeat illegal online file-sharing through the creation of a rights agency which would bring together the ISPs with the music, TV and film industry.