Government departments will work with Francesco Caio, the former chief executive of Cable and Wireless, on an independent review of the UK's broadband infrastructure.
The review was announced by the business and competitiveness minister, Shriti Vadera, on 22 February 2008. It will report in the autumn to the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the chancellor.
Among the key areas it will cover are:
• whether there are opportunities to minimise the cost of private sector investment, including whether there is a role for the public sector.
• whether the EU and UK statutory framework has given Ofcom the necessary powers to establish a regulatory regime which would provide certainty for investors and sufficiently incentivise new investment in high speed access;
• possible barriers to any new models of investment, involving collaboration between telecommunications suppliers and between suppliers and content providers.
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