Broadband tariffs should be set according to the area in which people live, according to one MP.

John Robertson, the parliamentary representative for Glasgow North West, was speaking in the wake of the recently-released Digital Britain report, which proposes nationwide broadband access for the whole of the UK with speeds of up to at least 2Mb.

Mr Robertson said that it is only fair that less wealthy communities are charged for their broadband accordingly.

Computing.co.uk quoted him as saying: "Tariff schemes have not been a high-profile issue in communications but I think this is the direction we will need to go in.

"Requiring broadband to be accessible doesn't guarantee take up which is the key measure - the divide in communications is in large part the financial divide in the country."

Communications minster Lord Carter suggested that widespread broadband access should be enabled by the extension of the universal service obligation currently applying to telephone customers.