With broadband coverage now almost complete in the UK, the priority should be to encourage greater uptake of the technology, according to a prominent BT figure.
Speaking to an audience of local government and regional development organisations in London yesterday, Patricia Vaz, BT regional director for the South East, iterated that the telecoms giant was fully committed to the rollout of broadband.
BT can already provide high-speed internet services to more than 80% of British homes and businesses and this should rise to almost 100% by the end of 2005.
UK service providers have successfully attracted more than 3 million broadband subscribers but this is the tip of the iceberg as far as the government is concerned and concerted efforts will have to be made to made to stimulate further demand.
“BT is convinced that providing the technology and indeed broadband coverage itself will not in itself be enough to drive demand,” said Vaz. “Only full co-operation between the public and private sectors will create the driving force needed to increase awareness of broadband benefits and, ultimately stimulate demand.”
The relatively low level of penetration is reflected in statistics from the South East which show that while almost 90% of households and businesses are connected to broadband exchanges, uptake is only about 9%.
“What we need is value propositions such as content, communications applications, security platforms and home networking to make broadband a compelling proposition for all, even those who are not the net-savvy early adopters,” added Vaz.
The UK is the world’s ninth largest broadband country, in terms of number of lines, according to the latest global analysis from Point Topic.
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