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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I very much welcome these government amendments, and particularly Amendments 2 and 3. It is primarily lack of investment in much of the infrastructure, particularly in local and rural areas, that has given rise to Amendment 9A to which I will speak later. The amendment stands in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Laird, and I would have added my name to it if I had not been away. I am sorry about that. I welcome Amendment 7 which will remind Ofcom of its duty to take into account the interests of citizens. It is all too easy to think of these things in terms of business and profitability, but there comes a point when we must invest in infrastructure. It will not necessarily be seen to be efficient in business terms to start with, but we will get huge rewards further down the line and in other areas of life which may not be strictly relevant to the communications market but will be relevant to many other markets.