BT’s Next-Generation Broadband Plan Wins UK Regulatory Approval

Telecom News Editorials Reports Glossary

BT’s Next-Generation Broadband Plan Wins UK Regulatory Approval

12:10 am on March 5, 2009 | Category: Telecom Services, Internet, Regulation

UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, has approved BT’s plan to spend £1.5 billion on a new super-fast broadband network.

In order to make the project economically viable, regulators will allow BT to set its own wholesale prices for access to the network. “Our message is clear: there are no regulatory barriers in the way of investment in super-fast broadband,” commented Ofcom Chief Executive, Ed Richards.

BT is already laying fiber-optic broadband cables between local telephone exchanges and street cabinets, bumping maximum internet bandwidth from 10-Mbps to 40-Mbps in select neighbourhoods. Now that its plan has received regulatory approval, the company expects to cover some 40% of UK households with “fiber-to-the-cabinet” access by 2012.