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BT warms to next generation broadband
(24-09-07) - Opposition to a fibre network that could provide speeds of up to 100Mb seems to be waning as BT (www.BT.com) considers Government talks.
Ian Livingston, head of BT retail, told the Financial Times that the company would discuss investment in next generation broadband with the Government and Ofcom at an upcoming summit.
Last week Stephen Timms, minister for competitiveness gave his first major speech on next generation broadband. The MP didn’t rule out public funding, but said that the roll of the Government was in “encouraging investment” - which looked difficult considering the massive cost of developing a fibre network - somewhere in the region of £10 billion and £15 billion.
However, while BT had previously been against fibre-to-the-home on economic grounds, Mr Livingston said: “BT remains very interested in further expanding the speed of access for customers, whether that be through faster copper, fibre to the home, fibre to the cabinet.”
He added that while greenfield sites would be the first to see the new technology since they didn’t already have a copper wire network, with Ebbsfleet Valley in Kent as a test case, fibre to the cabinet would be a more viable solution through most of the country.
Chris Eagle, BroadbandChoices.co.uk commercial manager, said: “At the moment, countries from France and Germany to Japan and the US are investing in fibre technology, while we in the UK lag behind with top speeds of only 24Mb - which is actually far above what the average user gets.
“The development of a fibre network would go a long way to alleviating this problem, but the Government needs to ensure that the right incentives are there to attract investment.”
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