A new 50p-a-month broadband tax could soon be added to landline phone bills, as part of an initiative to provide all UK with next generation broadband.

A 50p monthly tax – £6 a year – on broadband over seven years will be introduced before the next general election, Financial Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms has confirmed.

The tax, on home phone lines, will generate £175 million for the government annually and will be used to subsidise next generation broadband networks in areas that currently do not have access. This would mean that more than 90% of the UK population would have access to the broadband.

Mr Timms announced the news yesterday (23 September). He said: “We want to make high-speed networks nationally available. The next-generation fund will help that and we plan to legislate for it this side of a general election.”

Steve Weller, Marketing Director at uSwitch.com, said: “We are dismayed by today’s news. If the government truly intends to tax home phone users to fund the universal roll out of broadband, then this is a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

“Vulnerable groups in the country, such as the elderly, rely heavily on their home phone but have absolutely no use for broadband. It’s outrageous that they will be forced to fund the creation of a Digital Britain that they will play no part in. We are talking about a digitally dependent economy and society, and as such, the government should be looking to share the burden across businesses and consumers alike.”

The idea of broadband tax was first proposed in June 2009, as part of the Digital Britain project, of which Mr Timms is in charge of. The project aims to ensure the country is at the “leading edge of the global digital economy”, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.