BT to spend £1.5bn on super-fast broadband
Tuesday 15 July 2008
BT has announced that it is to spend an estimated £1.5bn on improving its broadband service across the UK within the next four years. Replacing old copper wires with a fibre-optic based network the new scheme should see around 10 million homes, or approximately 40% of the UK population able to connect to super-fast broadband.
Hopefully completed by 2012, the UK's network upgrade will provide top speeds of up to 100 Mb/s with potential for speeds of more than 1,000 Mb/s in the future. This improved service would free up bandwidth, eradicating the current speed problems caused by bandwidth-hungry popular online content such as streaming video and online games. BT said that the fibre project would transform the experience of using the internet in any household; "for example, some members of a family could be watching different high definition movies while others were gaming or working on complex graphics or video projects. The new services will also offer substantially improved "upstream" speeds allowing customers to post videos, use hi-def video conferencing and enjoy interactive hi-def gaming to the full."
Explaining the announcement, BT's chief executive, Ian Livingston, said: "Broadband has boosted the UK economy and is now an essential part of our customers' lives. We now want to make a step-change in broadband provision which will offer faster speeds than ever before. This marks the beginning of a new chapter in Britain's broadband story.
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. Our aim is that urban and rural areas alike will benefit from our investment."
BT are currently in talks with Ofcom to discuss the proposed project. Top of the agenda is how to ensure that anyone who chooses to invest in the fibre network can expect a fair rate of return for their shareholders.
BT's announcement is expected to ignite fears that the former state-owned company could realistically hold a monopoly over its competitors if this £1.5bn project is a success.
