BT extends fibre rollout to a further 1.2 million premises

BT has announced the next stage of its £2.5bn fibre broadband rollout, which will extend availability to a further 1.2 million premises.

The company said 99 new fibre-enabled exchanges will bring fast broadband to 600,000 premises across Scotland, the Midlands and the North of England, while another 600,000 premises in areas already set up for fibre will now benefit from the technology.

The announcement brings coverage for BT's fibre broadband to more than 19 million premises. BT said this latest stage should be completed by spring 2014

High speed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections will also become available in areas where it's deployed from this spring, BT announced. 

"The UK is making great progress with super-fast broadband and this latest phase of work will keep up the momentum. Speeds are increasing all the time, with the UK second only to Japan within the G8," said Mike Galvin, managing director for BT Openreach.

"Our fibre deployment continues to gather pace. Our engineers are working round the clock to hit our ambitious target of reaching two thirds of UK premises with fibre during spring 2014 - at least 18 months ahead of the original timetable.

"The work doesn't stop there, however, as we are also helping to roll out fibre to other parts of the country working in partnership with local authorities as part of the BDUK activity," he added.

BT is receiving government funding to help extend super-fast broadband to rural areas.