In January 2009 Lord Cater promised in his interim report that every home in Britain would be able to get broadband of at least 2MB per second by 2012.

Unfortunately, regulator Offcom are claiming that the current fixed- line network is incapable of getting broadband to 1.5 million homes in the UK at 2MB per second.

The UK’s five mobile phone companies are expected to meet Lord Carter this week in an attempt to sort out the problem. They will discuss Kip Meeks proposal of capping the amount of mobile phone frequency owned by Vodaphone and O2 and also by freeing up the capacity which will available when analogue television is turned off and using it for broadband.

Orange, 3 and T-Mobile are objecting to Vodaphone and O2 being allowed to use broadband services more than a year before the TV signal is available as they were allocated a broadband spectrum in 1980. They also want the two companies to be capped so that they will have to sell off some of their existing airwaves before picking up any spare TV capacity as this is perfect for broadband in rural areas.

It is hoped that a deal can be reached in order to meet the 2012 timetable.