The final part of Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report, which will outline a roadmap for the development of broadband infrastructure in the UK, is due to be published today. There has been much speculation about the contents of the document, after the interim report was published back in January.

Recent announcements by ISPs here in the UK and noises made by content providers such as the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) have given us some clues as to what the report may contain.

Here is a brief round-up of what is widely expected to be included in the report:

• Measures to provide speeds of at least 2Mbps to every UK home - this will almost certainly include a mixture of fixed-line and mobile connections. ISPs and mobile network operators could receive government incentives to invest in future broadband connections.

• A Rights Agency designed to prevent illegal file sharing. This may or may not involve a ‘three strikes’ system, whereby first offenders will be sent written warnings, persistent offenders will frisk having their connections slowed to a halt. Yesterday’s announcement by Virgin Media sees the ISP offering a carrot to go with the stick, in the form of unlimited downloads of DRM-free music with its broadband services. Such offers could become commonplace throughout the market.

• A change to the BBC licence fee which will see the public service broadcaster help cover the costs of bandwidth eaten up by use of its iPlayer on-demand platform. The BBC could also be asked to share proceeds earned from the licence fee with commercial rivals such as ITV and Channel 4, both of whom have their own ITV Player and 4oD on-demand offerings.

• Funding for investment in future networks may also be accrued from the licence fee. A speed of 2Mbps is the minimum required speed for viewing programmes on iPlayer online, so it makes sense for a fraction of the licence fee to be used for this purpose. Doing so should in theory allow everyone to watch footage of the London 2012 Olympics live on line. This will be beneficial to those living in parts of the UK such as Cornwall where digital terrestrial reception is patchy.

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Virgin Media has signed a record-breaking deal with the Universal Music Group which will see it become the first ISP in the UK — and the world — to offer free downloads of music that is readily available and unrestricted by any DRM software.

The service will be available to subscribe to alongside Virgin Media’s broadband packages. It is thought that there will be various packages available, such as a basic service which, according to a source quoted in The Register, allows for “a couple of albums per month,” to be downloaded, alongside an unlimited service, which would give you full access to the Universal catalogue.

Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett said, “In terms of both convenience and value, our new music service will be superior to anything that’s available online today and provides a fair deal for both consumers and artists. There is no better example of Virgin Media’s commitment to harnessing digital technology to give customers what they want, when they want and how they want.”

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News has just reached us that BT Broadband will be offering free upgrades to faster speeds when it’s 21st Century ADSL2+ network comes online this summer. 10 million UK homes are due to receive the free speed boost, which will provide ‘up to’ speeds of 20Mbps, more than double the top speed currently available on any of BT’s packages.

Further rollout of the service will continue into the new year. 10 million homes accounts for roughly 40 per cent of BT’s network, and it is expected that a further 55 per cent will be covered by March 2010.

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After both BT and Virgin Media have been busy making their next-gen plans public over the last few weeks, the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), an independent Government body, has announced that it is spending £1 million on developing new broadband technology.

The research projects could yield technology capable of delivering speeds from 1 and 10 Gbps, or Gigabits per second, and will hopefully ensure that the UK won’t lag behind other countries in the future when it comes to broadband.

“The challenge is to identify ways to address the technical issues facing the introduction of Ultra-Fast Broadband within the next decade and to build European collaborations to exploit the technology,” said Mike Biddle, a spokesman for the TSB.

There are 13 projects currently being undertaken, all of which are concerned with different aspects of how the future of Broadband Britain might take shape. One will look at the possible technology used for Ultra Fast Broadband, and another at how best to connect homes to fibre networks.

It is thought that the final result of these projects will be an extensive roadmap which will lay out the best way for the Government to prepare for the future of broadband in the UK.

Virgin Media is planning to add a further half a million UK homes to its existing network, with some 50,000 homes and businesses to be added this year alone. The Virgin Media network currently covers some 12.5 million premises, which accounts for roughly 50 per cent of the UK.

Virgin Media will be initially focussing on places where ducting and infrastructure has already been set up in order to minimize costs and delays, close to or within areas already fully or partially covered by the cable network.

A Virgin Media spokesperson, quoted in DigitalSpy earlier this week, said that the move will “improve our consumer offer and lay the foundation for future growth.”

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It looks as though BT is set to double the pace of its next-gen fibre optic broadband rollout, bringing up to 100Mbps broadband within reach of more than a million premises as early as next year.

In a statement following publication of the broadband market leader’s financial report for the last three months of 2008, CEO Ian Livingstone said:

“We will examine doubling the pace of the rollout of super fast broadband next year within existing capital expenditure plans, bringing fibre based services within the reach of more than a million homes and businesses and securing the jobs of a thousand BT people.”

Perhaps BT were spurred to act fast after it was announced that Virgin Media has begun trialling a 200Mbps service, and has mentioned plans to roll out a 150Mbps service to customers in 2010.

“If BT were to meet the time frame they have suggested - of finishing by 2012 - I would see us as having much, much faster upstream speed, running at a minimum of 100Mbps downstream and possibly more,” said Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett in March.

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Despite broadband news this week being largely dominated by the Carphone Warehouse takeover of Tiscali, BT Broadband has just announced figures that reveal that it is still top dog in the UK broadband stakes.

The broadband provider BT claims that its customer base has increased to 4.8 million, keeping it head and shoulders above the competition. The Tiscali buyout saw Carphone Warehouse leapfrog Virgin Media into second place, with its customer base swelling to 4.25 million - impressive, but still not enough to pip the British Broadband crown from BT.

Today also saw the publication of Tiscali’s results for the last quarter, which saw the troubled company steadily losing subscribers right up until the deal with Carphone was done.

The figures released show that BT Vision now has 423,000 customers, up from 398,000 on the last quarter. Use of BT’s Openzone Wi-Fi minutes, amounts of which are bundled free with BT Broadband packages, has also increased by 80 per cent over the last 12 months.

After about a year of negotiations and will-they-wont-they speculation, Carphone Warehouse has finally snapped up Tiscali’s UK operations for a cool £263 million. This purchase means that Carphone has leapfrogged Virgin Media to become the second largest ISP in the UK, with some 4.25 million broadband subscribers.

More importantly, the buyout means that Tiscali customers, concerned that they may lose their connection can rest easy. It was thought that Tiscali had racked up debts of €500 million across the Continent, and rumours of the group going into administration had subscribers understandably worried.

Tiscali UK CEO Mary Turner said: “It’s good news for our customers who will increasingly benefit from a group that has consistently championed best value and award-winning customer service.”

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone also said: “It has been the longest deal I have ever worked on. I think it has been hard for the shareholders of Tiscali because during the process we had the collapse of the banking world and then the decline in the pound to the euro so we think this price is low.”

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Virgin Media has begun a pilot of a 200Mbps broadband service in its usual trial location of Ashford in Kent. The trials will see 100 staff and customers connected to the new super-fast service for six months.

Virgin Media are claiming that this test ranks as the “fastest implementation of DOCSIS 3 technology in the world, running faster than services offered in Japan and the US, which currently reach 160Mb and 101Mb respectively.”

“With the only true next generation network in the UK, we’re at the forefront of innovation and understanding when it comes to ultrafast broadband services,” said Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett.

The 200Mb pilot will give us further insight into how true ‘wideband’ services might be used by consumers.”

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Virgin Media have publicly denied plans to open up it’s cable network to rival broadband providers. An article published in Monday’s Guardian claimed that the cable company planned to open up their network a la BT, and lease their high speed cable connections off to rivals. Today, Virgin Media issued the following statement:

“The report in this morning’s edition of the Guardian does not reflect Virgin Media’s position and we have no plans to develop a wholesale proposition.

“In the context of the government’s Digital Britain initiative and Ofcom’s recent review of next generation access, we have considered a range of strategic options but currently remain focused on delivering market leading retail services.”

In non-Newspeak, this pretty much means that Virgin Media have thought about going down the BT Openreach route, and whilst such an option is still tenuously on the cards, it’s not going to be happening anytime soon, if at all.