Communications giant O2 has announced that it is thinking of investing in superfast broadband if Ofcom changes certain regulations

Communications giant British Telecom recently announced that it was going to invest one and a half billion pounds in the roll out of superfast broadband using fibre optic networks to deliver faster speeds to ten million homes by 2012. At present the UK is lagging behind when it comes to broadband speeds with many other westernised countries enjoying high speed broadband of up to 100Mbps.

The plans from BT mean that millions of people in the UK will also be able to enjoy these superfast speeds if all goes to plan. However, BT is currently challenging regulations from the communications regulator Ofcom that require market dominating networks to be opened up to competitors. The decision on a change in regulation could affect the level of investment that is ploughed into this programme.

Mobile communications provider O2 is one of the firms that is considering investing in the roll out of superfast broadband. However, officials from the company have said that they will only do this if this particular regulation is changed by Ofcom, otherwise the investment would not be worth it.

Officials from O2 stated: “We need clear and unambiguous regulation in place before we start shelling out huge sums of money.” BT has been trying to get this regulation changed for some time, and is being backed by a number of Internet Service Providers, one of which is its rival communications giant Virgin Media.

Officials from Virgin Media stated: “We strongly support BT’s call for a stable regulatory environment that rewards both current and future investment. We will continue working closely with Ofcom and the government to achieve this.”