The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Govt cool on BT's advances

Not tonight darling, I've got a headache

  • print
  • alert

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

The Government has given a lukewarm response to BT's suggestion that closer ties could help boost broadband Britain.

Earlier today the dominant telco said that the purchasing power of the public sector could "drive demand even faster" by contributing to its scheme to convert exchanges to ADSL once they chalked up enough demand.

Of course, if that purchasing power was spent with BT, for example, it could help speed up the chances of non-broadband areas getting ADSL.

Obviously, BT didn't put it that way. Instead, it made its pitch for Government cash by saying that plans to ensure schools and GP surgeries got broadband would benefit the whole community "if implemented in a way that helps reduce trigger levels in non-enabled exchanges".

If the Government spent its cash with BT then this would "speed up the roll-out of ADSL and bring the benefits of broadband to a far wider audience than just the public sector", said the telco.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and industry (DTI) told The Register that the Government was pleased that BT had signalled that it was keen to cooperate on broadband and explained that there is great potential to use public sector procurement for broadband.

However, she said that the Government was "technology neutral" and "did not favour one company or one technology". ®

Related Stories

AOL UK won't pass on BT ADSL price cuts
BT confirms ADSL price cuts
Tiscali blasts BT's 'anti-competitive' ADSL price cuts

Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

More from The Register

 breaking news
UK telcos chuck another £1m at online child abuse watchdog
Web enforcers IWF gain power to seek and destroy illegal content
 breaking news
Pttow! Ofcom kicks hams out of MoD bands
Geet off my land, you, you ... 'secondary user'
 breaking news
Now you can use your phone instead of your wallet at the ATM, too
Blimey, these little paper towels out of the vending machine are really expensive
 breaking news
UK.gov's £530m bumpkin broadband rollout: 'Train crash waiting to happen'
Whitehall whispers of damning watchdog report next month
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
 breaking news
MySpace zaps millions of teens' tearful rants, causes wave of angst
'Your crappy redesign SUCKS, I wanna read my blogs' screech users
 breaking news
Microsoft Office 365 on iPhone NOW: No, we're not making this up
Word, Excel, Powerpoint for your pocket-stroker
Increased cell phone coverage tied to uptick in African violence
'Significantly and substantially increases the probability of violent conflict'
 breaking news