BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson has unveiled the company's vision for the UK's digital future. Speaking at BT's Delivering Britain's Digital Future conference in London, Patterson announced pledges to tackle slow speeds in hard-to-reach parts of the country; achieve a step-change in speeds overall, with ultra-fast roll-out starting in 2016; and improve customer service, through a number of commitments unveiled by Openreach. He also committed the company to supporting the government in delivering a new universal minimum broadband speed of 5-10 Mbps, and stressed the need for a supportive regulatory and government policy environment to bring about a commercially viable investment. Patterson also confirmed that BT will launch a satellite broadband service for some of the most remote premises in the UK by end-2015.
He insisted that BT wanted to go "further and faster" on fibre broadband, pledging to work with communities wanting faster broadband to explore innovative funding and technical solutions. BT also plans to supply fibre broadband for all new housing developments, either on its own or in cooperation with developers. Patterson added that BT's new 300-500 Mbps ultra-fast broadband service would reach 10 million homes and smaller businesses by end-2020, with a 1 Gbps service provided for those wanting more speed. BT also unveiled a new report from KPMG which values the impact of BT's future commitments at GBP 20 billion-GBP 30 billion to the UK economy over the next decade.
