Small and medium-sized business have been warned over a government plan to issue a levy on fixed line broadband users to fund an investment in Britain's broadband infrastructure.

This levy will severely effect small firms, which will find their ambitions severely hampered by their inability to access high-speed, low contention network services, according to internet firm Outsourcery.

"Access to broadband is becoming vital for the growth and survival of over four million SMEs in the UK and it is critical that the government invests in broadband infrastructure if Britain is to compete effectively in the global economy," said Mark Seemann, of Outsourcery.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has already lambasted these plans for lacking ambition, accusing government of being in a "time warp".

The FSB argue that the plan to increase broadband speeds do not go anywhere near far enough and merely tinkers with the speed rather than solve the underlying issue, which is that the UK is building its broadband network on archaic technology. The UK is using copper infrastructure and requires upgrading to fibre optic in order to satisfy businesses' requirements both now and in future.