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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, the duty does exist but, as I indicated earlier, it is at a much lower level in that it talks just about sufficient investment. This duty was defined in the Communications Act 2003. Surely with the passage of time and the importance of infrastructure—and practically every contribution this evening has stressed its importance—are we really saying that that is a sufficient duty? We do not believe that it is. We need to heighten the importance of infrastructure investment and move from a position where Ofcom merely ensures that there is sufficient investment to one where it promotes investment. There is a real benefit to be obtained from that. Obviously, the proof of that particular pudding will be in the eating, but that does not gainsay the importance of ensuring that Ofcom gives more weight to infrastructure investment.