BT Chief Clarifies Company’s Position on FTTH
The Digital Britain summit was held recently at the British Library to discuss the future of Britain’s digital world. The summit, which had been organised to discuss the issues raised by the report published by Lord Carter, was expected to result in some encouraging solutions. It also saw some important debates amongst the technology and media executives.
The keynote speaker at the event was Prime Minister Gordon Brown and major internet service providers also got a chance to share their thoughts with the participants.
The panel of technology executives in an important discussion comprised of key figures from BT broadband, Virgin Mobile broadband and O2. The BT chief executive Ian Livingstone delivered a speech elaborating his company’s plan to spend money on an improved fibre broadband network – the forthcoming £1.5bn fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) upgrade.
In his defence of BT’s reluctance to install fibre broadband right up to the customer’s house, Mr. Livingstone said that they have taken this decision by keeping in mind the public’s capacity to pay. The issue gained importance after the panel started discussing whether the government should intervene either through regulation or through subsidies to help in the installation of high-speed broadband. Mr. Livingstone said that as the economy is not very encouraging and there isn’t enough demand for fibre-to-the-home services, the company could not justify the cost of installation of such a network.
