The possibility of connecting every home in Britain to a broadband fast internet service is to be examined by ministers, amid concerns that offline families are missing out on financial and educational benefits.

Lord Carter, the former Number 10 aide who was appointed communications minister this month, is keen to introduce a legal right for every home to have broadband to force phone companies to do more.

Unveiling a six month Digital Britain review of government policy across media and communications, Lord Carter said that “increasing broadband access is a big issue”. Today 42 per cent of homes are not connected to a fast internet service.

He hinted that public money could be available to help boost connections, following on from the £300 million announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to help connect one million families with school age children by 2012.

“Clearly, this review is only just beginning, but you’ve already seen the Government inject public money in that specific targeted instance,” said the peer, who has previously worked as the chief executive of Ofcom, the communications regulator.

Internet usage in Britain is already high compared to countries around Europe, meaning that homes without convenient, fast internet access are at risk of losing out. Britain has one of the highest rates of online shopping in Europe, with about one pound in eight now going through virtual tills, where costs are frequently cheaper.

That point was picked by the Prime Minster, who writing in Times Online, personally endorsed Lord Carter’s review, saying: “OECD tests show that students with one computer at home perform significantly better than those without. More than 90 per cent of jobs now require ICT skills. And families able to e-retail could save nearly £300 per year.”

Also on the agenda is the introduction of a broadband ‘universal service obligation’ — a measure that Lord Carter said is “definitely something we would look at”. That would amount to an extension of the existing legal obligation that forces BT to provide every house with an affordable telephone and basic internet service.

Today a few hundred thousand homes cannot get any type of broadband at all, typically because it is uneconomic to overcome the limitations of the technology in some rural areas. However, officials said that the cost of making the service mandatory would be relatively modest, and that cost would probably be shared between BT, Virgin Media and other major phone companies.

That would probably require BT and other phone companies to provide a fast internet connection at somewhere around today’s industry standard of 2 megabits a second. Today, BT is only obliged to provide a every house with a telephone and a basic internet service.

Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom, said he was “very pleased with this development — because there are issues in which only government can take a lead”. Although Ofcom has been keen to promote universal broadband access, the subject had until recently attracted little ministerial interest.

The Digital Britain Report will also re-assess government broadcasting and copyright policy, and is likely to eventually lead to a green paper and ultimately a communications bill.