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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, this amendment would ensure that investment is efficient at all times and not just "wherever possible". The Government’s factsheet on this clause explains that at times it may be desirable for social reasons that investment is not efficient. It cites that many types of public service content are not efficient and would not happen if this was the only criteria by which investment was judged. We accept that this makes sense in terms of subsection (2)(b). Some public service content is by its nature not provided for by the market and as such may represent inefficient investment. The clause therefore allows Ofcom leeway when considering issues of this nature. However, we are not certain that there are any areas in which investment in electronic communications networks should be inefficient. Are the Government thinking of investment in what the Digital Britain report called the "final third"? If so, I suggest that they should remove the barriers to investment that make this commercially unattractive before rushing to encourage inefficient investment. It would be helpful if the Minister could explain the circumstances in which inefficient investment into these networks would be encouraged by Ofcom. I beg to move.