BT sets 100 pc Broadband goal

BT Group PLC
17 November 2003


NR 4503   November 17, 2003


                     BT SETS GOAL OF 100 PER CENT BROADBAND

                     Sets triggers for 2,300 more exchanges

       Call for public sector involvement to help speed exchange upgrades


BT today declared that 100 per cent broadband coverage of every UK community is
achievable by 2005 if industry and government pull together. This would put the
UK in a position to lead the world.

BT currently makes mass market broadband available to more than 80 per cent of
households - more houses than are connected to mains gas - and the company is
set to upgrade exchanges serving 90 per cent during next year. That achievement
already puts the UK at the leading edge of G7 economies.

Today BT announced that it was extending its demand registration scheme for ADSL
broadband by setting triggers for a further 2,300 exchanges, serving two million
homes and businesses. The scheme drives BT's roll out programme by matching
supply to demand: BT sets trigger levels for communities to aim for and upgrades
the exchange when registrations for demand hit the trigger. Today's development
means 32 exchanges will be upgraded immediately.

Ben Verwaayen, BT Group chief executive, said: "BT's registration scheme has
been a world-leading success in focusing new investment where there is demand.
We have clear momentum and this, together with our latest understanding of
technology and costs and the growing enthusiasm for regional partnerships, means
we can take a new approach to broadband investment. We are now in a position to
extend trigger levels into the furthest parts of the UK.

"When all these exchanges are enabled more than 991 per cent of UK homes and
businesses would be connected to broadband exchanges.

"There's no doubt however that many of these trigger levels are very
challenging to hit. In some areas, market stimulation alone will not be
sufficient to deliver broadband. We are critically dependent on public
partnerships to stimulate demand and to intervene with support to get the
exchanges enabled early and even to help reduce the triggers. This will be
essential to deliver the benefits of broadband to every community.

"We are enormously encouraged by initiatives already under way to achieve 100
per cent availability at a local, regional or country level."

Today's announcement still leaves 600 of the very smallest exchanges without a
trigger level, each serving fewer than 300 customers. Ten of these serve fewer
than ten customers each. These areas, serving around 100,000 households, will
also require different partnership investment approaches to receive broadband.
There is then the issue of how to address the small percentage of people who
live in already enabled areas but who are currently unable to get DSL broadband.

BT is currently trialling encouraging new wireless solutions and is working to
extend the physical reach of DSL from enabled exchanges.

Ben Verwaayen said: "One hundred per cent broadband availability must be the
goal because of business demand for ICT, the imperative to share knowledge and
information quickly and the need to create a genuine knowledge economy.

"The important message is that we ask ourselves 'How can we do this?' and not '
Why should we do this?'. Setting out this clear and achievable goal for the
industry will energise the market to the benefit of everyone. Our industry,
along with government at all levels, has a huge role to play to accelerate
broadband availability, demand and take-up. Working together we can roll out
broadband to 100% of communities by 2005.

"This would put the UK at the head of the pack with all that means for our
economic success.

"Our announcement today creates great opportunities to extend the regional and
local partnership models already demonstrated to such effect in Cornwall,
Caerphilly and in our ground breaking approach with THUS and Highlands and
Islands Enterprise. Government plans to aggregate public sector demand in rural
areas and as a major purchaser of broadband for schools, hospitals and all
public services, will play a key role.

"Setting triggers does not by itself deliver broadband, and we should all be
impatient to speed the process up. Partnerships will do this and ensure that the
UK leads the world's large economies in becoming 100% broadband-enabled with
rapid take-up of broadband by citizens and business."



Note to editors: Demand registration triggers for the 2,300 exchanges have been
set by estimating the total cost of rollout to these exchanges and applying a
weighted average cost linked to the number of lines connected to the individual
exchange to calculate the trigger levels. Triggers will range from 100 to 500.
The new approach also acknowledges changes in the cost of equipment supply and
has enabled triggers for these exchanges to be lower than would previously have
been the case.

1 Average penetration of broadband on an enabled exchange is approximately 96%.

For information about broadband and availability go to www.bt.com/broadband

For information about partnerships go to www.bt.com/broadband-partnerships

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