The budget delivered by Alistair Darling last week was extremely important for businesses looking to ensure their future prosperity as the promise of universal high speed broadband was essentially pledged.

The new 50p Broadband Tax has been confirmed and this comes almost simultaneously with the new Building Britain’s Digital Future initiative, in which prime minister Gordon Brown committed to getting high speed broadband to 100 per cent of the population in the next decade. Business leaders can only hope that future governments are able to live up to this promise.

Thankfully it looks as though most businesses are being backed by local and national plans to help bring broadband to as many people as possible, but for many there is little clear idea as to what kind of timescale they will be looking at before the promise of universal high speed broadband becomes a reality.

At the moment, the 2017 deadline for 90 per cent high speed broadband coverage is looking attainable, but there are no official figures relating to how much the public or private purse will have to pay in order to ensure that the final 10 per cent is not left floating in the wind.

The nations that currently top the charts in terms of high speed broadband availability, including Korea and Japan, could only achieve market saturation with heavy investment from the authorities, which suggests that relying entirely on the private sector for the cash is not going to work in Britain.

It is believed that if high speed BT business broadband packages become widely available within the next decade, working from home will be far more common and the morning commute for those who do head into work will be less crowded as broadband enables more diverse working patterns.

It looks as though the roll out of fibre optic broadband will be hastened if regional businesses are able to unite and commit to support, after the heads of businesses in Dorset announced that they would be backing plans within their area.

A local Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism which encompasses leaders from around Weymouth and Portland has revealed that it will be firmly in favour of speeding along the proposed installation of fibre optic cable broadband, which had been intended to coincide with the London Olympics in 2012.

This new deal will of course allow the fibre optic network to be retained after the Olympics has come and gone and businesses will supply the custom necessary to ensure its continued financial viability.

A local newspaper said that there was still time for businesses and home owners to pledge their support for the plans via a survey, which will be open until the end of the month.

Nigel Reed, who presides over the Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview that the most significant goal they are aiming to achieve is the retention of fibre optic technology that will link local telephone exchanges. However, any lack of demand could mean that telecoms companies would be hesitant about offering high speed broadband after the Olympics conclude in 2012.

Mr Reed also confirmed that he and his fellow businesspeople would be backing the plans in their area, seeing it as one of the key benefits of hosting the Olympic games.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard added that “businesses can really benefit from fibre optic broadband connections with BT business broadband packages and those of other providers expected to be vastly improved in the wake of the fibre optic broadband roll out.”

A new consultation between the government and the public has been initiated in order to find out just what it is that the average citizen wants from their internet connection over the next decade.

There is a one billion pound fund available to help kick start developments and improvements and the debate is certain to centre on the question as to whether high speed broadband should be provided to suburban dwellers first, or whether universal availability of basic broadband is a more pressing issue.

The problems facing the telecoms industry are those of market demand versus profitability. In densely populated areas there is a high likelihood of fibre optic broadband and LTE Mobile Broadband becoming available without government intervention, but rural areas are less attractive because of the high costs of setup compounded by the relatively sparse customer numbers.

Whatever decisions are made over the next few years, the economic impact of broadband technology is going to be significant. The London School of Economics predicts that if public and private sectors invest five billion pounds in the development of next-generation broadband networks, over a quarter of a million new jobs would be created and businesses of all sizes would benefit.

Over the next few years, BT broadband deals are expected to be able to offer fibre optic cable connections to between 50 and 70 per cent of the population and the government has targeted 2017 as the year in which next-gen coverage must reach 90 per cent in order for the work to be deemed a success.

Business secretary Lord Mandelson pointed out that Virgin Media was already offering half the country the chance of connecting at 50Mbps, but that the new consultation, the large public fund at the government’s disposal and higher speed BT broadband deals would help to significantly improve broadband internet coverage.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has revealed statistics which place the UK in the bottom third of a list of global nations in terms of average broadband connection speeds.

The UK ranked just 21st out of the list of the world’s 30 most developed nations in terms of broadband speeds and infrastructure, which means fellow EU states including Spain, Greece and Portugal are higher placed.

The OECD said that the results proved that investment in fibre optic technology was key to improving average broadband speeds. Although the UK is ranked 13th in the list when the level of broadband penetration is considered, a majority of UK customers take advantage of BT broadband deals that utilise ADSL technology rather than the faster fibre optic cable connections.

Japan outstripped the UK significantly, topping the charts with a maximum advertised download speed of 1Gbps according to the report. A majority of Japanese broadband customers connect to the internet using fibre optic technology, whilst on average only one in ten broadband customers in the global market have such an opportunity.

Government subsidies are helping nations including the US, Sweden and Norway to install the next-generation of broadband technology. The report claims that health, education, transportation and electricity industries all benefit from faster broadband and that these economic benefits far outweigh the initial cost of rolling out the fibre optic technology.

The OECD report has shown that the UK’s broadband tax and the funds that it generates could well be the best way forward if the government is to fully implement next-generation broadband technology over the coming years. However, critics believe that this process is not occurring quickly enough and there is little doubt that the UK still has some way to go before its average download speeds achieved via standard BT broadband deals can begin to approach those of the top nations.

The Digital Britain report and the Digital Economy Bill are still the cause of significant debate within the mobile broadband industry. Although some discussion focuses as to whether wireless broadband prices will fall as mobile broadband becomes more popular, it is the policy of disconnection as punishment for those who download files illegally and breach copyright legislation which has stirred up the greatest public interest.

Petitions, protests and political showdowns have surrounded the plans to cut off repeat file sharing offenders, but it seems that in practice, enforcing these measures against mobile broadband customers could be much more difficult than anticipated.

It has emerged that industry experts recognise the threat posed to home broadband users, whose online activities are easily traceable back to their own property thanks to the process by which IP addresses are assigned. However, since mobile broadband users all access the web via a single public IP address, targeting anyone individually for downloading copyrighted material would be completely impossible.

It is weaknesses and loopholes like this that have virtually destroyed public confidence in the viability of the Digital Economy Bill. It seems that wireless broadband prices are set to continue their downward trend as many more people sign up for mobile broadband and mobile data use becomes far more common for mobile phone owners as well.

Although protests currently surrounding the bill are aimed to protect the rights of households with multiple users, with the misdemeanours of a single member possibly resulting in a suspension of broadband service affecting everyone under the same roof, there is a possibility that the anonymity offered by mobile broadband could result in a file sharing exodus to the wireless platform. In the past, file sharing over mobile broadband was infeasible because of stringent data limits, but with providers such as Orange offering uncapped services between 12pm-6pm the chance of increased file sharing activity is growing.

Jeremy Hunt, shadow secretary for the Conservative party, caused a stir when speaking at the London School of Economics earlier in the week. The senior Tory politician revealed that a Conservative government would focus public investment in providing cheap cable broadband and faster ADSL connections to the major cities of the UK.

The news was greeted with understandable frustration by those living in rural areas where broadband coverage is poor and broadband speeds are a fraction of those available to people living in densely populated areas.

Commentators have recognised that the strategy could be aimed at winning votes amongst those living and working in cities where broadband is seen as integral to economic growth.

It is possible that this strategy, which deviates from current government plans looking for dual investment from taxpayers’ money and the telecoms industry, could eventually work in favour of those living in rural areas. The Conservatives would charge those adopting the high speed connection in the cities a higher monthly rate in order to, later, allow for increased investment in better broadband speeds and coverage around the UK.

It is likely that such a plan would be greeted with significant support from businesses, allowing them to implement home working schemes for staff during adverse weather or pandemics such as the ongoing Swine Flu outbreak.

For residential customers living in urban areas, the impact could be less desirable. With the new faster connections costing more, an imbalance of broadband speeds could be driven by income, with the universal availability of cheap cable broadband a distant dream.

Although the Conservative plans for the future of broadband in the UK are of interest to many, speculation and the discussion of specific plans are seen to be pointless at this time. It is only after next year’s general election that the any new policies will be implemented.

Wednesday saw the Queen’s speech used as a platform from which the Government could announce various new pieces of legislation. The most important news for broadband users was the announcement of the Digital Economy Bill, which will change the rules relating to illegal file-sharing and online piracy.

Those who download illegally will first be contacted and urged to cease and desist. If they ignore the warnings, they could have their connections limited as pressure is put on internet service providers to take the issues of file sharing more seriously.

The most persistent offenders could face having their internet connections disabled altogether, resulting in a system that would effectively ban those who do not respect copyright laws. The UK music industry has welcomed the plans, but lobbyists who campaign for information freedom in the digital age believe that the new rules could penalise people unnecessarily.

The new bill is also set to further establish plans for the growth of a high-speed broadband network across the UK. On Monday, the Digital Britain minister Stephen Timms told a broadband conference in Leeds that there was a governmental commitment to get the next generation of broadband connectivity into over 90% of UK households within the next 8 years. BT broadband deals which offer 20Mbps connections are representative of the first wave of this new, faster broadband infrastructure.

In order to pay for the BT broadband deals of the future the 50p broadband tax, levied against phone bills for UK customers, is still going ahead. This will further supplement the £170 million that is being injected into the industry in order to achieve universal broadband coverage by 2012.

Although an increasing number of providers are gradually offering 20Mbps connections, further telephone exchanges need to be converted to the new technology to enable a greater number of UK residents to connect at high speeds in the future.