The Welsh city of Cardiff could be among the first in the country to receive BT's next generation 'up to' 100Mbps fibre optic (FTTP, FTTC) broadband services, reports WalesOnline. Cardiff councillors have been in recent discussions with the operator and BT's chairman, Sir Michael Rake, spent Monday in the city meeting First Minister Rhodri Morgan and other senior figures.

Perhaps most interestingly of all is how open Rake appears to be in his comments towards the importance of adopting next generation broadband. It would have been hard to imagine these words coming from the mouth of a BT boss prior to July's £1.5bn investment announcement (here):


However Rake also spoke in reference to Ofcom, urging the industry regulator not to put "a cap on the price" it is able to charge for the service, which would make its investment difficult to justify with shareholders.

He continued on to stress the importance of Ofcom getting this resolved "quickly", so that it could proceed with the plan to deploy the new fibre optic broadband infrastructure.

Interestingly he concluded by warning that it could be "three, four or five years before we can start making an initial impact on this", noting there would be little need for central government money, except potentially to help get rural locations hooked up.

In related news BT's Chief Executive, Ian Livingston, said that all major telecommunications companies should share responsibility for helping poorer and vulnerable customers. Livingston called on Vodafone, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse to assume some responsibility for social policy.