BT denies broadband 'dead zones' claims

BT has dismissed claims that it is planning to exclude parts of the UK from using its high-speed internet access services.

According to a report in The Times, a leaked document from a source close to BT reveals that nearly 40 per cent of the UK's population will be excluded from using the services.

The paper claims that confidential plans being drawn up by BT will mean that businesses and consumers in the North East, North West, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Cornwall will be the victims of the new plans, leaving "huge dead zones throughout Britain".

Although no further details of the plans are provided by the paper, it said the low-cost, high-speed internet services are thought to be "commercially and technically unviable" in these areas.

BT has dismissed the report as "utter rubbish" and said the roll out plans are nothing new. "Our roll out plans have been public since July. We have 35 per cent of the population covered now, and aim to have 50 per cent by Spring next year and 70 per cent by September next year," said a spokesman.

The Communications Management Association (CMA) said yesterday that 86 per cent of senior communications professionals feel BT's asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) roll out is too slow. Half of the CMA's members said they did not expect their business to have access to ADSL for at least two years.

But BT refutes any claims that its roll out is slow. "The UK has one of the most aggressive roll out plans anywhere in the world. People tend to use the US as a benchmark but we are taking half the time [to roll out ADSL] that it has taken in the US," said a BT spokesman.