BT extends superfast broadband pledge

BT will be able to connect more sites with fibre-to-the-premises technology

BT has promised that an extra one and a half million homes will have superfast broadband by 2012.

The telco said initially that it could deploy so-called fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) only to a million homes and businesses because of the cost.

However, now it thinks it can get 2.5 million subscribers connected with FTTP because it will be cheaper to provide.

In addition, more than nine million locations will receive the slower fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology by 2012.

BT had said that it could lay FTTP only to new-build sites, but now believes that it can use existing ducts, overhead cables and other means to install the equipment.

Those who get FTTP will receive broadband speeds of up to 100Mbit/s, according to BT, compared to a top speed of 40Mbit/s for FTTC.

The FTTP project will be trialled in Bradwell Abbey in Milton Keynes and Highams Park in London. More than 20,000 homes and businesses will receive FTTP by March 2010.

Meanwhile, the Rural Coalition is bringing together six national organisations including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Country Land and Business Association, the Local Government Association and the Royal Town Planning Institute, to pressure politicians to do more to get better broadband connections in rural areas.

The action has been backed by the Prince of Wales who said that schools, doctors' surgeries and other essential services were being left in the internet "slow lane".

The prince said that the British countryside was in danger of becoming a series of "ghost villages populated by little more than second-home owners".