Digital revolution to help beat recession, says PM

The digital revolution is a vital component of both the economic recovery and future global competitiveness, the Prime Minister said yesterday.

High-speed internet infrastructure will take the place of road and railway-building to help beat the recession, Gordon Brown told the Digital Britain Summit.

"Only by embracing a digital Britain and taking a lead in the global digital economy can we maintain our competitiveness as one of the world's leading economic and industrial powers in years to come," the Prime Minister told a conference addressed later in the day by Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, industry leaders and self-confessed technophiles such as Stephen Fry.

Mr Brown also endorsed the extension of the universal service obligation (USO) on telephony to include broadband, which was raised in January in an interim report from Lord Carter, charged with developing a strategy to secure the UK's place at the forefront of the global digital economy.

"The digital revolution lies at the heart of success for Britain in the years to come," the Prime Minister said. "Achieving that goal of universal connectivity to broadband will be a critical stepping stone to a digital Britain."

Lord Carter's draft proposals include infrastructure investment alongside measures to ensure the future of public service broadcasting, update copyright law and change radio spectrum regulations. "The implication is that USO is the area where Carter has made the most progress," Matt Yardley, at Analysys Mason, said.

Sly Bailey, chief executive of the Mirror Group, used the summit to plead for changes to the merger rules for regional newspapers. The sector is reeling from the economic downturn and competition from the internet. "If we are going to compete with a myriad of different operations, we're going to need more scale," she said.