After finally agreeing a deal with broadband regulators which will see BT increase the wholesale broadband price it charges competitors to use its broadband network, the company has now announced a significant increase in the rate of rollout of its superfast broadband network. After initially looking to have superfast broadband available in around 500,000 homes in the UK by 2010, the company has announced it will now look to provide the service to 1.5 million homes by the end of 2010.
This is a significant increase compared to the previous rate of rollout and puts the company well on the way to its target of 10 million homes, which it hopes to reach by 2012. The BT fibre-optic broadband network is a central part of the Digital Britain report and this announcement is sure to go down well in political and regulatory circles. Whether the company will actually deliver 1.5 million homes with superfast broadband by the end of 2010 remains to be seen but thankfully the UK broadband industry appears to be setting targets which are perhaps more appropriate to the situation.
BT has already put aside the £1.5 billion required to fund the project and should start to see a quicker return on its investment if targets are met for 2010, 2012 and beyond.