BT playing the long game on rural roll-out

BT has stated that it is unlikely to derive a financial return on its investment in rural fibre broadband for at least 10 years.

As reported, the broadband provider has been something of a lone crusader in providing rural broadband access, after several other companies decided that it was not an area in which it was easy to make a profit.

The high costs of installing fibre connections are leaving thousands of people without broadband connections, while plans to roll out super-fast broadband in the UK are running two years late.

BT has committed itself to the project, despite the slow payback expected. A spokesman commented: 'Providing services in the most challenging, remote parts of the UK isn’t easy.'