Following news earlier this week that BT had quoted £550k to install broadband for just 80 homes in the rural UK village of Erbistock (Wrexham, Wales), a quote that was bested by small ISP rival Rutland Telecom (£50k), the operator has now found a cheaper solution for residents that will only cost them £100 a pop.

BT's original quote was, in fact, just one of several put forward by the operator and the company has since developed other potential solutions, although until now it hadn't said what they were or how much they'd cost.

The majority of local residents have been unable to receive a broadband service due to their homes being too far away from the nearest telephone exchange - Bangor-on-Dee. BT believes it has overcome this challenge by offering residents the option of transferring their line from the Bangor-on-Dee exchange to the closer exchange at Overton-on-Dee.


BT claims that its solution should allow all 80 premises in the area to receive a stable copper broadband service, with speeds of between 1-4Mbps. Interested residents will still have to pay £100 to be swapped by their chosen broadband ISP, which must action the request, and will also lose their existing telephone number.

Small ISP Rutland Telecom (RT) UK, which quoted £50k for brining significantly faster FTTC broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps to the area, cried foul last week (here) and alleged that BT had shown no real interest in Erbistock until RT made an offer earlier this year. RT has historically been very critical of BT and caused them some regulatory problems, perhaps this is BT's attempt at karma.

UPDATE 13th September 2010

Villagers have apparently rejected BT's lower quote and chosen to stick with Rutland Telecom's faster bid.