The chairman-elect of Ofcom has thrown her weight behind Lord Carter's proposal of a universal service obligation attached to broadband.

A plan to ensure that every household in the country has access to broadband with 'up to' connection speeds of at least 2Mb is necessary, a senior figure at Ofcom has asserted.

The communications watchdog's chairman-elect Collette Bowe has told attendees at the Communication Managers' Association conference that a universal service obligation (USO) for broadband, as put forward by Lord Carter in his recent Digital Britain report, is needed.

Ms Bowe explained that the move is vital for Britain to make the transition into a digitally-integrated society.

"We can debate what that means in detail but I believe it is an absolutely basic, basic need for citizens," she said.

"To say it is like supplying clean water or sewage removal may be overstating its importance, but not by much."

The Communication Managers' Association annual conference is taking place today (Tuesday, February 24th) at the Congress Centre in London.