BT's CEO, Ian Livingston, has hinted that its previously announced plans to invest £1.5bn rolling out a new next generation super-fast broadband network could be under threat from the financial crisis and shareholder pressure.

Back in July (here) the operator pledged to rollout fibre-based broadband to as many as 10 million homes by 2012. The project would deliver a range of services, offering top downstream speeds of up to 100Mbps and the potential for 1000Mbps in the future:


Ofcom has effectively given a green light for BT to proceed with its plans, albeit still lacking a few key signatures here and there. Presently BT has not yet done an official u-turn on its plans, although there are now fears that Livingston's comments could be hinting at just such an announcement to come.

The news is likely to be greeted with some concern, especially since online demand continues to rise, while many consumers remain stuck on slower speeds and unable to keep up with modern applications. However BT is a commercial business and some of the argument does have a degree of merit.

Meanwhile Virgin Media does not appear to be putting its 50Mbps broadband plans on hold and no doubt any delay by BT would risk handing a greater victory to their biggest rival.