LONDON (Reuters) - Britain unveiled plans to provide universal broadband access yesterday as it believes the £50 billion digital industry will help the country move out of recession.

A report by Communications minister Lord Carter said Britain would work to provide broadband access to the whole country at at least 2 Megabits per second (Mb). He also intends to introduce legislation to force Internet service providers to crack down on web piracy.

"We are developing plans to move towards a historic universal service commitment for broadband and digital services to include options up to 2 Megabits per second, building on the approach to postal services and telephone services in centuries past," Media Secretary Andy Burnham told the House of Commons.

Currently, 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 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 before the interim report was released. "It is as essential to our future prosperity in the 21st Century as roads, bridges, trains and electricity were in the 20th Century."