British Government plans for a tax on fixed telephone lines to pay for the infrastructure to increase broadband speeds in areas with poor access is unfair and unwise, according to a committee of UK Members of Parliament.

The Business Innovation and Skills committee supported the objectives of government’s ‘Digital Britain’ white paper whose main objective was to provide universal broadband access by 2012.

But it said plans to impose a 50 pence a month levy on all copper phone lines, which could raise up to GBP175 million to introduce faster broadband to areas where it would not be commercially viable for private investment, would be a regressive and poorly targeted tax, according to Reuters news agency.

At the same time, the government should appoint a full-time minister with the task of encouraging private investment in its broadband plans, the MPs suggested.

“In times of great stringency in public expenditure, digital inclusion, not next generation access, should be the priority for expenditure,” committee chairman Peter Luff said in the report.

“The market can be helped to deliver greater levels of high speed access without significant increases in public expenditure.”

The committee argued that a 50 pence monthly charge on fixed telephone lines placed “a disproportionate cost on a majority who will not, or are unable to, reap the benefits of that charge.”

Some government funding may be necessary at some stage, but it called the idea that authorities should intervene more widely “unwise.”

The committee also said the government’s proposals for a universal service commitment of 2Mbps should be considered a minimum standard to be available permanently, and to all users, under normal circumstances.