BT is adamant copper is helping the United Kingdom get superfast broadband more rapidly and economically than a pure FTTP roll-out and believes there is plenty of life in copper yet. The provider wants its expansion to pass 12 million premises by 2020.
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It follows a report by Ofcom that fell short of demanding that BT’s infrastructure should be floated off from the company.
“G.fast is an important technology that will enable us to deploy ultrafast broadband at pace and to as many homes as possible”.
“Customers want higher standards of service and we are determined to provide them with just that”.
BT said it would spend 6 billion pounds on rolling out superfast fibre and 4G mobile in the next three years, in a riposte to rivals and regulators who have demanded better coverage for homes and businesses across the country.
The announcement comes shortly after United Kingdom communications watchdog Ofcom said it won’t split BT and its Openreach broadband arm.
Hence, BT now expects that announcing its latest plan would stop Ofcom from recommending the BT Openreach split.
So far Ofcom has shied away from that move.
The majority of the ultrafast rollout will use G.Fast, which speeds up copper connections.
While some companies talk a good game, Virgin Media is putting its money where its mouth is and laying fibre to the premise alongside our superior HFC network-delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds.
With G.Fast technology – a mixture of fibre and copper – BT is on target to offer up to 300Mbps speeds to 10 million homes and businesses.
He said confidence its prospects underpinned a 13 percent rise in the dividend, and it forecast at least 10 percent dividend growth in each of the next two years, and free cash flow of 3.1-3.2 billion this financial year and more than 3.6 billion next.
BT said audiences for its sports coverage increased 45% after the launch of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League content.
This is not the first time BT has promised such investments.
BT also shares coverage of the FA Cup with the BBC and has a package of Premier League matches.
For broadband the investment is expected to bring an ultrafast service to many more people.
BT is to unveil its latest investment plan, aimed at improving internet in the UK.
The group, whose takeover of mobile giant EE was cleared by regulators in January, saw sales rise eight per cent to £1.19bn across its BT Consumer business, which supplies broadband, telephone and TV services.
Mr Patterson said the integration of EE was “going well” and announced plans to increase annual cost savings from the merger to £400 million from £360 million.
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Analysts says the combination has potential.
