BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen recently told ZDNet UK that BT, as a commercial company, should not be expected to spend money on broadband infrastructure in parts of the UK where it cannot see sufficient demand to make it economically viable. Earlier this year BT launched its pre-registration scheme, where people who cannot get broadband in their area can register their interest. BT has set 'trigger levels' of interest for many exchanges, and has said it will upgrade every local exchange whose trigger level is achieved. According to Todd, more still needs to be done. "I urge everyone I meet to register their interest with BT. Although this helps, it isn't a solution, and I understand that there is frustration about the coverage issue. We need innovative solutions, and I believe that wireless has a massive role to play," said Todd. BT is currently conducting a trial of mesh radio, which can be used to create a wireless broadband network within a community. Mesh radio does not use base stations to transmit with large numbers of end-users. Instead, the nodes relay signals between each other, which means much fewer base stations are required, making it cheaper to install. Wi-Fi could also have a role in increasing the availability of broadband, and a group of pioneers are already using Wi-Fi to bring broadband to the South Wales valleys. The Arwain project is a free wireless broadband network that uses 802.11b to bring high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses within Wales's broadband blackspots. Despite his concerns about broadband coverage, Todd did emphasise that the UK could enjoy a bright broadband future. "We broke through the one million figure for broadband take-up just a couple of weeks ago, and the indications are that we could reach two million by next summer. We're just at the start of this journey, and we need to accelerate the pace of progress by stakeholders working together," said Todd.
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Talkback
I need Broadband for twice the usage, for internet and for my games consols how can BT even consider that its not viable i know lots of young guys and they all want it badly there is hardly any coverage in South Warwickshire at all. I live in a remote area of that part of Warwickshire and Stratord, Leamington Spa are virtually none existant. Seems that surely it will become a reality one day. Even if your not the brainiest person in the world doesnt take a rocket scientist to work out that Broadband has got to be more on the priority list than stupid phones with pretty cameras on ha ha are ya listening London.... rob warwickshire