Dominique Lazanski, Head of Digital Policy at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, offered this reaction:
“By doing this the government is spending our tax money to subsidise broadband rollout which could be completely funded by private industry. If the government reduced or eliminated broadband fibre tax, allowed for the reuse of infrastructure like ducts and poles already in place for other utilities, and opened up the spectrum auction we would have no need for taxpayer funded rural broadband. In effect, the government is picking winners in an industry that could and should be entirely funded by private investment and companies.”
For more information, please see Dominique’s recent blog post on rural broadband.