BT’s rollout of cutting-edge broadband to millions of homes will still leave Britain lagging behind its European rivals, it was claimed last night.
The company’s cables arm, Openreach, pledged to give 3 million homes and businesses a super-fast connection to the internet by the end of 2020.
But critics attacked it for showing ‘paltry ambition’ and said the plan would give the UK a slower network than countries such as Spain, France, Latvia and the Czech Republic.
There are also fears it could lead to price hikes for customers – including those who do not want the faster connections.
The plan was also described as embarrassing by critics, with others questioning why the rollout was taking so long.
BT revealed it’s new broadband plan which left critics unimpressed. The company said it would three million homes in Britain would have a faster connection by the end of 2020
Sir Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: ‘While this investment is welcome, BT has massively underperformed in recent years and as a result Britain is now behind other European countries – including some that were under the communist system.
‘Most of the high-tech industries we want to be successful in will need fast internet connections and the slowness of delivery here is holding back the country greatly.’
Labour’s Kevin Brennan, Shadow Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said: ‘The Government would like us to think this announcement is big news but the reality is it still leaves us years behind the rest of Europe on broadband.
‘The paltry ambition shown is little short of embarrassing.’
BT has long faced criticism for not investing enough on its broadband network, with telecoms watchdog Ofcom recently suggesting it should spend less on expensive sports rights.
The company, a state-owned monopoly until the 1980s, owns most of the cables that connect British homes to the internet – but the vast majority still rely on Victorian-era copper wires to get online.
BT has spent several years upgrading households to so-called ‘superfast’ internet speeds of 24 megabits per second. And fibre cables could raise speeds to more than 300 megabits – known as ‘ultrafast’.
Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, says this type of connection will be important in the future and says it should be rolled out widely.
It has pressured BT to invest in the technology because the firm is by far the largest owner of internet cables.
Both Sir Vince Cable (left) and Labour’s Kevin Brennan (right) critiqued the plan saying it would keep the UK far behind other European countries
But even under plans announced by BT and rival companies so far, just 20pc of the UK is expected to have access to a fibre connection by 2020.
This compares to current coverage of 80pc or more in Spain and former communist countries Latvia and Lithuania. In France it is already more than 20pc and in the Czech Republic it is more than 35pc.
In addition to the 3 million homes it said it would connect to fibre by 2020, Openreach said it would also seek to connect another 7 million by ‘the mid-2020s’.
The total cost could be as much as £4bn overall, under estimates per premises given by Openreach.
Clive Selley, chief executive of Openreach, insisted his firm was ‘getting on with the job’ and said the upgrade would be affordable.
He added: ‘We will identify the cities, towns and rural areas where we can build a future-proofed, fibre network that’s capable of delivering gigabit speeds to all homes and businesses.’
It was welcomed by the government, which has called on BT to invest more cash in the country’s broadband network.
‘Full fibre connectivity will be vital in building a Britain that’s fit for the future’, Culture Secretary Matt Hancock said.
‘Our focus over the last two years has been to achieve the government’s target of getting 95pc superfast coverage – so we have got very good broadband to as many homes as possible.
‘That was the right strategy for the last two years. Now having got to 95pc, the mandate is to fix the last 5pc and move on to the upgrade from superfast to ultrafast.’
He also suggested all households would eventually have to switch to faster connections, even if they did not want one.
‘Ultimately, it makes no sense to maintain the old network and then the new fibre network’, he added.