Expansion promised for BT’s super-fast fibre network

Two-thirds of the UK is to receive super-fast broadband services as BT announces that it will expand its next-generation services.


BT originally promised a £1.5bn investment in its fibre services, offering speeds of up to 40 megabits per second (Mbps) that were due to reach around 40% of the population by 2012. However, with the announcement of big profits in the year leading up to 31st March they are now able to invest a further £1bn.


This investment promises to see the project roll out to a further 20% of the population by 2015 with the first four million people will be connected by the end of the year. The expansion of fibre services has been enabled by the firm's return to profit.


Many rural communities have become frustrated by the slow roll-out of fibre services and have begun to offer their own. Rutland village Lyddington broke away from BT after the telco said it was too expensive to offer fibre services.


After successfully "unbundling" the Lyddington telephone cabinet, locally-based Rutland Telecom has had enquiries from 200 other villages keen to do the same thing.