BT ramps up broadband plan: FT

LONDON, UK: BT is to more than double the number of homes able to use its ultra-fast broadband network, the head of BT unit Openreach told the Financial Times, in a big expansion of its original next-generation infrastructure plans.

BT's network, which offers download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, will run past at least 2.5 million homes by 2012, or 10 percent of Britain's households, the FT reported in an interview with Steve Robertson, who is overseeing the new network.

This compares with plans announced last year to run past 1 million homes.

Robertson told the FT the company was ramping up the reach of the network after finding out it would not cost as much previously thought. He said the modified strategy would not increase the cost of the 1.5 billion pound network.