BT Plans Broadband Network Investment

[Satellite Today 07-15-08] BT plans to invest up to 1.5 billion British pounds ($3 billion) to upgrade its terrestrial broadband network, the company announced July 15.
    The invest is intended to give up to 10 million homes access to fiber by 2012. BT will be able to deliver a range of services with top speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, with the potential for speeds of more than 1,000 megabits per second in the future. The investment forms part of BT’s wider strategy of delivering next-generation broadband services nationwide and could make BT more competitive in the battle against BSkyB and Virgin Media on the U.K. triple-play landscape.
    “Broadband has boosted the U.K. economy and is now an essential part of our customers’ lives,” BT CEO Ian Livingston said in a statement. “We now want to make a step-change in broadband provision which will offer faster speeds than ever before. This marks the beginning of a new chapter in Britain’s broadband story.”
    BT said it plans to discuss this program with U.K. telecoms regulator Ofcom to make sure there is favorable regulatory conditions before it commits to such a sizeable investment.