Politicians hardly like to admit it but industrial policy inevitably involves picking winners. So BT should be pleased with the the Carter report on Digital Britain,, the long-awaited blueprint for 21st century “industrial activism” published on Tuesday by Gordon Brown’s outgoing communications minister. The UK telecoms incumbent’s shares, which rose sharply in the days leading up to the report’s release, closed 8 per cent higher after the government announced plans to subsidise the deployment of high-speed fibre optic data networks.

A proposed £6-a-year levy on every copper-wire fixed line in Britain – part of Stephen Carter’s drive to wire up 90 per cent of UK households with super-fast “next generation” broadband by 2017 – will raise the price of BT’s existing fixed-line services. BT will also have to compete with other service providers for the resulting subsidy. On balance, the money should help BT and Virgin Media, a rival fixed-line broadband group, compete with satellite and pay TV provider BSkyB in rural areas, where fixed-line broadband is impractical. Sky’s shares fell 1 per cent, capping a 6 per cent slide since last week.