Fujitsu fights for funding for rural fibre-optic broadband plans

Areas of rural Britain that have been expecting to wait for years to get fibre-optic broadband networks have found a champion in Fujitsu.

The company's telecoms arm announced earlier this month that it had plans to install fibre-optic cabling directly to five million homes in remote areas.

Fujitsu will either string the cables over BT's telegraph poles or run them through BT's underground ducts. It will install the fastest connections through Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH), which will provide broadband speeds of up to 100Mbits/sec.

All internet service providers will be able to lease lines from Fujitsu, and Virgin Media and Talktalk have been in talks with the company.

"We have agreed to be tenants; essentially lease lines so we can offer our broadband, telephone and television services though Fujitsu's network," a Virgin Media representative said.

Community groups and local authorities will also be able to use the network.

However the roll-out will be dependent on funding from the UK Government. Fujitsu has  approached Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) the initiative run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

BDUK handles the Government's broadband policy and can draw on funds of £530m. It said Fujitsu was able to tender for contracts along with other companies but it wouldn't just hand over £500m for the project. A futher £300m will be available if needed after the life of this Parliament, BDUK said.

"Depending on whether we are successful in getting fuding, we hope that some areas will be able to access the broadband network by 2012," a Fujitsu representative said.