Final Digital Britain report arrives tomorrow

Digital Britain 'Hot potato' will need cool pair of hands

The much-anticipated Digital Britain report will be released to Parliament by culture secretary Ben Bradshaw tomorrow afternoon.

In a landmark announcement the report's author, communications minister Lord Stephen Carter, will face scrutiny over perhaps the most important document in UK communications history, setting out the government's strategy on all things digital.

One of the most crucial parts of the report relates to the telecoms industry, and how the government plans to upgrade the nation's network infrastructure for high-speed broadband, along with the minimum level of broadband speed it intends to deliver to everyone in the UK.

"The image of a 'hot potato' springs to mind, so I think it needs a cool pair of hands to deal with it," said Rob Bamforth, Quocirca principal analyst for communications.

Last week the government confirmed rumours of Lord Carter's departure before the summer parliamentary recess, saying that he will deliver the report and work on the implementation plan for the mission statements set out in the document.

Bamforth said the draft Digital Britain strategy released in January was always a bit low on ambition, and called for a different approach from Carter's successor.

"I'd like to see someone with a bit of drive and imagination to be a real digital champion, rather than a strategy/policy wonk - it will depend on who we get, and on recent government appointments I'm not feeling confident," he said.

Other major parts of the Digital Britain strategy to be announced will include how digitally created content will be protected; the government's plans for public service broadcasting and how digital radio will evolve; and also the development of the nation's digital skills both in the classroom and the workplace.