The chairman of BT Openreach predicts it will cost £2 billion (€2.3 billion) to meet government targets to supply broadband to every UK home within the next five years.
Steve Robertson says public funds are needed to meet the new government’s goal of offering a minimum 2MB connection to all addresses by 2015, the BBC reports.
BT is one of several leading UK ISPs due to discuss the UK’s broadband future with culture secretary Jeremy Hunt in a meeting today.
The country’s new coalition government is determined to offer the fastest broadband connections in Europe, and says service providers must collaborate to achieve the goal.
With just £175 million in the coffers at present, Hunt might extend a scheme to allocate part of the BBC’s license fee to the project, the broadcaster said.
Currently, around two million UK homes lack a 2MB broadband connection, while a further 160,000 have no broadband access.
BT announced in May that it would pump an extra £1 billion into its fiber networks in the coming years, bringing its total investment to £2.5 billion.