Lord Carter’s interim report on Digital Britain heralds the arrival of a new “digital economy”. Citing a productivity lag between the UK and the US, challenging competition from Asian companies, and a reform strategy for the communications sector in France, Lord Carter states that a successful Britain must be a Digital Britain: “The success of our manufacturing and service industries will be increasingly defined by their ability to use and develop digital technologies.”

As effective transport links and electricity distribution were spurs to the industrial revolution, Lord Carter rightly sees the development of a “next generation” communications infrastructure as essential to the creation of the new digital economy.