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The long-awaited Digital Britain report, which will lay out the UK government's strategy for broadband and digital content is due out on 16 June.

It is widely expected to recommend a minimum speed for broadband, with a pledge to bring all households up to 2Mbps (megabits per second) by 2012.

It is likely to back the technologies by which this can be achieved.

It will also make recommendations on internet piracy and ways to safeguard copyright in the digital age.

The BBC has been told that Lord Carter - the author of the report - has estimated that there are some 1.7m homes that would need getting up to speed under the government's 2Mbps universal service commitment (USC).

Some think this is a conservative estimate. A study commissioned by the BBC suggested that some three million homes currently have speeds of 2Mbps or below.

Mobile solution?

Much of the full report will be dedicated to finding the solution and here the battle is on between mobile, satellite and traditional fixed line technologies.


What will deliver next-generation broadband?

The BBC has learned that the Digital Britain team has held frantic last minute talks with the UK mobile operators trying to sort out a deal which would see firms such as O2 and 3 contribute to the government's USC.

In return mobile operators are asking for changes in the way the radio spectrum is divvied up.

But some, including it seems Lord Carter himself, don't see mobile as the whole solution.

Satellite broadband firm Avanti's chief executive David Williams met with Lord Carter a few weeks ago to discuss the Hylas satellite which his company is due to launch at the end of the year.

"Lord Carter acknowledged to me that mobile cannot provide a substitute for fixed line. It is great for e-mail and browsing on the move but bad for data usage at home," he revealed.

Research from broadband communications firm Epitiro recently found that the average download speed achieved with mobile broadband was just under 1Mbps.

At 3am this average rose to 1.8Mbps, illustrating that contention issues - how many people are using the service at any given time - plays a big role in limiting speed.

Satellite could be a solution for some and costs are set to fall to as little as £15 a month.

Avanti's Hylas satellite would be able to provide 2Mbps broadband to 350,000 rural homes and if the go-ahead is given for the launch of two farther satellites that would increase the reach to two million.

news.bbc.co.uk