BT hits back over NAO rural broadband rollout criticisms

Telecoms giant BT says it is 'delivering excellent value for money' after NAO report criticises rural broadband programme

BT has hit back against press criticism generated by the National Audit Office's report into the rising costs and delays that have affected the government's rural fibre-broadband rollout.

The company says, in particular, that it has not been responsible for the delays that have dogged the programme, run by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), and that BT's fibre programme "has been one of the most efficient in the world", adding that the rollout had proceeded "faster than industry experts thought possible".

It continued: "There was strong competition when prices were set at the start of the process and that has ensured counties have benefited from the best possible terms. Deploying fibre broadband is an expensive long-term business and so it no surprise that others dropped out as the going got tough.

"BT, on the other hand, has stayed the course and invested significant sums in rural Britain even though the payback period in such areas is longer than in the first two thirds of the UK, which has been funded by BT alone."

BT also claimed that while it has received subsidies to support the rollout, it has also committed more than £500m towards the capital and operating expenditures arising from the programme. In addition, more than one-third of the contracts still have yet to be signed.

"We believe we will contribute around 38 per cent of the total funds by the end of the programme, which is well above the 23 per cent claimed in the report," claimed the company.

This funding is on top of the £2.5bn commercial investment, plus the additional spending BT has invested in non-BDUK public/private projects in areas such as Cornwall and Northern Ireland.