BT set to extend superfast fibre broadband to further 1.5m homes and businesses

BT has announced a further 156 locations where it will extend its superfast fibre broadband network over the next two years, serving over 1.5 million homes and businesses.

The telecoms firm said that the new exchanges will include the 10 that won BT Retail's Race to Infinity competition in which the public voted for their community to be upgraded.

Around 50 will be upgraded by the summer, while the remainder will be able to offer fibre broadband by the end of 2012 at the latest, said BT.

The company is using a combination of fibre-to-the-cabinet, offering speeds of up to 40Mbit/s, and fibre-to-the-premises, delivering up to 100Mbit/s.

"Our fibre programme is well underway with more than four million premises now able to order a fibre-based broadband service from their chosen supplier," said David Campbell, managing director of next-generation access at BT Openreach.

"We'll continue to work closely with industry and local and devolved authorities around the country in deciding where to deploy the technology next."

A list of the exchanges can be found here.

BT will be hoping that its commitment to fibre rollouts detracts from the growing discontent around its pricing policies.

Ofcom is currently consulting over whether to force BT to lower the price of access to broadband services from its Openreach division to help other internet service providers (ISPs) pass on savings to customers.

Meanwhile, five ISPs - Fujitsu, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Geo and Vtesse Networks - sent an open letter to internet minister Ed Vaizey on Monday threatening to boycott the government's BDUK rural broadband programme because BT's charges for access to its pole and duct network were deemed too high.