Nine out of ten UK homes and businesses can now get DSL broadband, according to the UK's dominant fixed line telco. Confirmation that BT has hit its "significant milestone on the way to universal broadband availability" comes a day before the company publishes its latest round of financial figures.

So far, BT has broadband-enabled 2,652 exchanges and has plans to upgrade a further 2,366 by next summer. If it achieves it goal, ADSL will be available in 99.6 per cent of the UK, said the company in a statement.

Last month BT announced it was scrapping its broadband pre-registration scheme after realising - at last - that there is sufficient interest in broadband after all.

The move is set to make DSL broadband available to almost all of UK homes and businesses by summer 2005, bringing the UK "significantly closer to universal availability". ®

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