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BT Partnerships Promote Broadband

Posted: 13th May, 2003 By: MarkJ

BT has today announced a new public and private sector partnership scheme, which is designed to help extend the coverage of broadband ADSL services:

BT PARTNERSHIP CALL IN DRIVE TOWARDS BROADBAND BRITAIN

BT today unveiled a national strategy for public and private sector partnerships to extend the potential of high-speed broadband communications around the UK and bring it within reach of more people living in rural areas.

Bill Murphy, managing director, BT Regions, explained how BT had developed a comprehensive range of solutions where national, regional and local government organisations could play active roles in building Broadband Britain.

He was speaking at the formal launch of an innovative project in Caerphilly. BT is working with Caerphilly County Borough Council, the Welsh Development Agency and the steelmaker Corus, to provide broadband to more local people and drive down costs for small businesses.

Caerphilly has suffered from the decline of traditional industries such as coal and more recently steel. It has now been promoted to being one of the most broadband-enabled areas in the UK thanks to one of BT's broadband regeneration models. Broadband will be a major step in improving business competitiveness and provide the wider access to education, training and new skills that are the key to revitalising Caerphilly's economy.

Bill Murphy said: "BT is now volunteering to share its initiatives with other partners who also wish to see wider access and greater take-up of broadband services, in a truly competitive UK marketplace.

In addition, we will make our Broadband Britain Blueprint' available to our competitors who also have responsibilities for creating a broadband-enabled society across the UK.

This Connecting Caerphilly initiative is the right solution for this particular situation which calls for both investment in telephone exchange infrastructure and action to stimulate awareness so customers begin to exploit the benefits of this new technology.

BT has devised a range of partnership approaches that can be tailored to local circumstances for other scenarios. Some involve direct public investment and public subsidies where there is a risk of communities being excluded from a broadband-enabled society. Where broadband is readily available, BT will work with the public sector to encourage everyone to harness the power of broadband in their own lives, improving competitiveness in the workplace and helping communities to get the most out of their educational, training, and leisure activities."

Bill Murphy said that this joint approach could improve UK broadband availability from 69 per cent of UK households today, to 80 per cent during next year.

He said: "BT is leading the way towards a truly Broadband Britain. We have achieved a lot and we are committed to bringing these 21st century communications to more and more people as we equip new exchanges with asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband capability week after week.

But we cannot achieve everything on our own. Other organisations and agencies have roles to play. Above all, UK government in all its forms and at all levels must be actively involved if we are to succeed in making Britain a truly modern society with the most extensive and competitive broadband market of all G7 countries, by 2005."

BT's partnership strategy was commended by Stephen Timms MP, Minister for e-commerce and competitiveness, in a recent House of Commons debate. He announced that the Department of Trade and Industry will use the BT framework for its own projects to make broadband available where it is not commercially viable on its own.

The Minister singled out the regional and national development agencies as key players whose involvement was crucial to successful co-operative programmes.

Professor Mike Tedd, chairman of the Welsh Advisory Committee on Telecommunications, addressed the Connecting Caerphilly launch conference. He said: "Connecting Caerphilly is a great start, but getting broadband to every part of Wales now has to be a priority for our economy. This can only realistically happen through cooperation between the public and private sectors."

BT is now approaching all UK development agencies with an invitation to join it in local broadband initiatives. They would be constructed to meet local circumstances.