Mandelson launches consultation into Next Generation Fund

Mandelson announces consultation into spend of Next Generation Fund

Business secretary Lord Mandelson has launched a consultation into how the £1bn Next Generation Fund raised by the 50p phone levy is spent.

The fund aims to ensure 90 per cent of the UK population has access to superfast broadband.

The 50p per month will come from a levy on fixed landline connections due to be included in a Finance Bill before an expected May general election.

The consultation paper takes the fund as a given despite th possibility of Tory opposition preventing the levy becoming law before polling day.

Mandelson said of the fund and related proposals: “This investment is about bringing the future of broadband to areas of the country that would otherwise not have it.

"The market is already delivering superfast internet speeds of 50Mbit/s to half the country but we cannot be certain that it will reach the communities that are not currently served, which is why we are putting an extra £1bn into supporting the market."

The consultative paper said that superfast broadband will provide opportunities for telemedicine, teleworking and two-way videoconferencing, as well as enabling businesses to use the internet to access cloud-based services, boost e-commerce and increase use of the internet to access government services.

Meanwhile, Mandelson also announced Southampton University will be able to access £70m in government investment via the new Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to assist in the development of photonics. A statement from the Department for Business described this as: "The science of application of light using optical fibres to revolutionise the internet and telecommunications."

He also said that funding for feasibility studies in support of the Digital Britain strategy will come from a £38.5m fund available to the Technology Strategy Board.