INTERNET BROADBAND CONNECTION FOR ALL SCOTTISH HOMES.

Every home in the SCOTLAND will have internet access by 2012 under new Government plans.

Lord Carter's Digital Britain report proposed to scrap BT's obligation to ensure every home has access to a telephone line and replace it with a requirement to provide broadband at up to two megabits per second.

The universal service commitment would aim to ensure everyone had quick enough web access to watch videos online.

The report also proposed the creation of a new body to deal with the problem of people illegally copying and sharing music and films over the internet.

Around 60 per cent of the country uses broadband at the moment, while 99 per cent has access to it, but not always at the required speed of 2 mb/sec.

Prime Minister Brown said;

"Our digital networks will be the backbone of our economy in the decades ahead. It is as essential to our future prosperity in the 21st Century as roads, bridges, trains and electricity were in the 20th Century."