BT splashes out on fibre-based broadband to 10 million UK homes

Posted on 15 Jul 2008 at 11:59

BT has pledged £1.5 billion to roll out fibre-based broadband to 10 million homes in Britain by 2012. According to BT, the programme will deliver top speeds of 100 Mb/s to home users, putting the UK in the world's top tier in terms of broadband speeds.

However, BT has admitted the plans hinge on discussions with Ofcom, in which the company will try to persuade the regulatory body to amend current regulations surrounding barriers to investment. BT argues that the large investments required to pull off this venture means that investors need to be confident that their risk taking to be rewarded.

"This marks the beginning of a new chapter in Britain's broadband story," said BT chief executive Ian Livingston.

"This is a bold step by BT and we need others to be just as bold. We are keen to partner with people who share our vision for the next phase of the broadband revolution. We want to work with local and regional bodies to decide where and when we should focus the deployment.," he added.

BT says Fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) will deliver headline speeds of "up to 100 Mb/s", whilst Fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) will initially deliver up to 40Mb/s. The company claims it is working on technologies to increase FTTC speeds to more than 60Mb/s, and vows that urban and rural areas will benefit from the investment alike.

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota

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