BT to invest £1.5bn in fibre network

July 15, 2008 - UK incumbent telco BT has announced plans to invest £1.5bn in the deployment of fibre-based, super fast broadband to up to 10mn homes in the country by 2012, with top speeds of up to 100 Mbps by 2012 and the potential of over 1,000 Mbps in the future.

The company adds that the programme is dependent on a "supportive and enduring regulatory environment", including the removal of current barriers to invesment and moves to ensure that operators investing in fibre can earn a "fair rate of return" for shareholders. The programme is intended to give customers enough speed to run multiple bandwidth-hungry applications such as IPTV and online gaming, and also offer substantially improved upstream speeds.

“Broadband has boosted the UK economy and is now an essential part of our customers’ lives," said Ian Livingstone, Chief Executive of BT. "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.”

The UK's communications industry watchdog Ofcom welcomed the move, with Chief Executive Ed Richards commenting: "This is a clear sign that the UK market is moving in the right direction, with a growing number of plans to deliver super-fast broadband services to consumers. These new networks will be a critical part of the UK's infrastructure and will change our experience of communications. They will support and deliver innovative applications and services as well as helping create new opportunities for businesses of all kinds."

Of the £1.5bn to be invested in the programme, £1bn is incremental to the company's existing plans for investment in fibre. Both fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) will be deployed, depending on interest shown by government and local and regional authorities, with FTTP to be focused primarily on new build sites.