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| BT to pump £1.5bn into broadband | BT to pump £1.5bn into broadband |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| BT is to invest £1.5bn in fibre optic cables, giving up to 10 million UK households access to faster broadband. | BT is to invest £1.5bn in fibre optic cables, giving up to 10 million UK households access to faster broadband. |
| The plans would bring 40% of homes in reach of an ultra-fast service by 2012. BT also plans to put fibre-optic cable right into about 1 million homes, making the service even faster for those customers. | |
| However, the communications group has made clear it will only make the move if regulator Ofcom allows it to get a decent return on that investment. | However, the communications group has made clear it will only make the move if regulator Ofcom allows it to get a decent return on that investment. |
| Remaining customers would be offered broadband speeds of between 40 and 60 megabits a second (mbps), it said. | Remaining customers would be offered broadband speeds of between 40 and 60 megabits a second (mbps), it said. |
| In order to pay for the project BT has said it will suspend its £2.5bn share buy-back programme in July - by which time it will have returned more than £1.8bn. | |
| 'New chapter' | |
| "Broadband has boosted the UK economy and is now an essential part of our customers' lives," said BT chief executive Ian Livingston. | |
| "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." | |
| But the firm has warned that conditions need to be right for their investment. | |
| BT has urged Ofcom to nurture a "supportive and enduring regulatory environment" which includes removing current barriers to investment and making sure that anyone who chooses to invest in fibre optics can earn a fair rate of return for their shareholders. | |
| Britain has been slower to invest in fast broadband than some countries, with BT in particular cautious about spending the large sums involved. | Britain has been slower to invest in fast broadband than some countries, with BT in particular cautious about spending the large sums involved. |
| The group's plans should enable homes to run so-called "multiple bandwidth-hungry applications" which would enable some family members to watch high definition movies while others were gaming or working on complex graphics projects. |