British incumbent BT plans to tap £830m of public funds to expand its high-speed broadband infrastructure to 90% of UK homes by 2017.
The company has earmarked £2.5bn to roll out the network across 16 million homes – mostly in urban areas – by 2015….
British incumbent BT plans to tap £830m of public funds to expand its high-speed broadband infrastructure to 90% of UK homes by 2017.
The company has earmarked £2.5bn to roll out the network across 16 million homes – mostly in urban areas – by 2015. However, the telco is unwilling to carry out further expansion into rural areas without public money, reported the FT citing CEO Ian Livingston.
The government announced in October that it had set aside £830m over the next seven years to help companies build superfast networks, predominantly in rural areas.
In an interview with the newspaper, Livingston said the 2017 target was feasible if the public funds are at least matched by private sector investments.
Local high-speed broadband rival Virgin Media could also be looking to bid for the government’s funding pot.
For the three months to 30 September, BT reported a 48% rise in pre-tax profit to £406m, compared with £275m for the corresponding period last year. Revenue for Q2 2010 fell 2% to £5bn compared with Q2 2009.
