UPDATE 1-Britain unveils plans for universal broadband

(Adds quotes, details, reactions)

By Kate Holton and Georgina Prodhan

LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Britain plans to provide universal broadband access along the lines of the post and telephone services in a bid to make the country more competitive and help drag it out of recession.

A report by Communications minister Lord Carter said Britain would work to provide Internet access to the whole country at around 2 Megabits per second (Mb) through a mixture of fixed and wireless connections by 2012.

Carter also intends to introduce legislation to force Internet service providers to crack down on Web piracy, will form a body to promote UK content and copyright, and will look to allow broadcasters to adapt to the changing times.

"There is no sector, with the possible exception of energy, that the rest of the economy depends upon more than this one," Carter told reporters at a briefing.

Currently, around 60 percent of the country takes broadband, while some 99 percent has access to it, but not always at the required 2 Mb speed.

Welcoming the Carter proposals, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain would look to support the 52 billion-pound ($73.37 billion) industry as it would play a crucial part in lifting the country out of the recession.

"Our digital networks will be the backbone of our economy in the decades ahead," Brown said. "It is as essential to our future prosperity in the 21st Century as roads, bridges, trains and electricity were in the 20th Century."

BT (BT.L), the former state telecoms monopoly which has a requirement to provide every home with a phone line, welcomed the proposals and said it looked forward to working with the mobile operators to provide the service.

"Recent studies have shown the UK to have one of the most competitive and best developed communications sectors in the world," the group said.

"It is right that the government are looking for ways in which everyone in the UK can benefit more. We welcome the clear sense of direction that Lord Carter has brought to the debate and are encouraged by his recognition of the need to incentivise investment."

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The final report will be due by June.

Carter said new legislation was likely to be brought in, requiring Internet service providers to take action against users who significantly infringe copyright rules by sharing content.