BT wins finance to boost ADSL

BT has persuaded local businesses, government agencies and the European Union to heavily subsidise the cost of ADSL-enabling local exchanges in a further ten UK regions.

The regions, which have not as yet been finalised, will be in addition to the Cornish areas which will see BT's flagship regional programme go live tomorrow (Friday).

BT had halted its regional rollout last autumn saying it had reached the limits of commercially-viable exchanges, with 1,010 of BT's 6,100 exchanges upgraded.

Chief executive Ben Verweyaan demanded that coalitions of business and government agencies put up similar totals to its Cornish ACT NOW project, where BT put up less than £2m of the projected £12.5m cost.

Earlier this month BT made some concessions to criticisms that it had isolated 40 per cent of the country, when it promised to upgrade 100 more exchanges and consider the merits of 500 others.

But even including these additions, the focus on urban areas means that a third of the population would be left uncovered for ADSL, with BT providing only expensive, or limited, satellite broadband services.

In BT's regional roll-out tomorrow, some 3,300 businesses around Truro, St Austell, Redruth, Camborne, Newquay and Penzance are set to benefit.

Depending on take-up, further exchanges at Falmouth, Bodmin, Launceston Saltash, Penryn, St Ives and Bude may be upgraded later in the year.

ACT NOW offers ADSL services from £34.95 a month. Funds from local businesses and government agencies provided around five-sixths of the upgrade costs.

The basic package for Cornish businesses includes ADSL, a business specification PC with software, a webcam, advice, installation, training and maintenance, three years on-site support, a helpline and members' access to a Cornish-run ecommerce website.

BT won't reveal details of the new programs until June, but they are likely to include areas in Wales, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland. Londonderry is the one new region to have been confirmed.

"We have ten new Cornwalls," said Pierre Danon, chief executive at BT Retail. "They cover exchanges other than the 100 and 500 announced earlier."