Introduced and passed through all stages following the May 21 Budget. The bill extends a development levy applied to the telecommunications industry, for the Government’s policy of extending the Rural Broadband Initiative and establishing a Mobile Black Spots Fund. To achieve that, this Bill resets the telecommunications development levy amounts prescribed in the Telecommunications Act 2001 for 2016/17 and beyond. All parties but Labour supported the bill with its MPs arguing it was a tax which would increase costs to consumers. Telecommunications (Development Levy) Amendment Bill