BT super fast broadband plans move a year ahead of schedule

Two- thirds of the UK premises BT has said it would provide with access to fibre broadband will be connected a year ahead of schedule.

The planned roll out date of 2015 has been cut to the end of 2014, because BT said it plans to recruit a further 520 engineers to assist with the deployment, most of whom will be ex-armed forces.

The news comes as BT also announced it would increase the headline speed of its fastest fibre broadband product to up to 300 Mbits/sec by spring next year and double the speed of its fibre-to-the-cabinet service.

The company said the accelerated deployment of the fibre optic network will help the Government achieve its ambition of having the best super-fast broadband network in Europe by 2015.

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport said: "BT's accelerated fibre roll-out plan is great news for the UK. With access to superfast broadband UK businesses will have the infrastructure they need to grow and develop new products and services.

This investment means new jobs today, but also allows us to build the digital infrastructure we need for the jobs of tomorrow.

BT said that six million premises already have access to the technology, a figure that will rise to 10m by next year and two-thirds of the UK by the end of 2014. BT's network can be used by all companies on an open wholesale basis.

Ian Livingston, BT Group chief executive said: "Our roll-out of fibre broadband is one of the fastest in the world and so it is great to be ahead of what was an already challenging schedule.

"The acceleration reflects the success of the programme to date and is testament to the hard work and innovation of our people. We are investing when others are merely talking about it.