Broadband for every house in Britain by 2012.

Byline: By Kevin Schofield

EVERY home in Britain will have high-speed internet access by 2012.

The Government made the broadband pledge yesterday in an interim report on the UK's digital future.

It also looked at plans for public service broadcasting.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said digital technology was as important today as "roads, bridges and trains were in the 20th century".

And Culture Secretary Andy Burnham told MPs the report would help Britain secure a competitive low carbon economy in the next five to 10 years, adding the country "led the world in content creation".

The report called for everyone in the UK to have access to a broadband speed of up to two megabytes per second within three years.

But the Government need to know whether internet service providers can build next generation networks.

Burnham said he wanted to ensure public services online were accessible to the widest range of people and wanted to "give parents the information and tools to protect children from inappropriate content".

Communications minister Lord Carter's report also looked at the issue of internet piracy and the future of radio.

Digital audio broadcasting will become the "primary distribution network", potentially signaling the end of traditional FM analogue radio.

The government will also look at how the digital switchover scheme - introduced for TV - could be expanded to help the radio transition.

Brown said the report set out "the scale of our ambition to compete in the digital economy and that's a market worth about pounds 50billion a year".

But the Conservatives said it promised "no new action", with the Lib Dems claiming it was a "complete damp squib".

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