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". ®

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