British prime minister David Cameron.

JUNE 22, 2010 • Great Britain’s new conservative government has dropped the proposed 50 pence a month landline tax intended to boost next-generation broadband deployment. Instead, the new government will delegate the majority of super-fast broadband roll-out to private investment. For rural roll-outs, some money will be available if private industry does not serve those areas.

Impact: Unlike many other countries in the European Union, the new British government wants fast Internet connections to every home, but doesn’t want to pay for it, or mandate it. That leaves us to believe many areas outside the cities will lag far behind as private carriers pick and choose where to best amortize their investments. While that is a very powerful market argument, it also means many parts of the U.K. will lag behind their Euro counterparts in potential digital commerce.