A consortium of companies led by Fujitsu has claimed it would provide a 100 megabits per second (Mbps) connection to over five million people in rural Britain within five years as an alternative to BT’s Openreach division.
At present, BT’s proposal for rural broadband is higher and claims it will provide high speed broadband connection to about 90% of the population. Fujitsu has said their network will reach 95% of the population and faster than what BT has offered.
The Japanese technology company is working with networking firm Cisco and broadband companies TalkTalk and Virgin Media. It will compete with BT for government subsidies and hopes to access some of the £530m earmarked by the government for investments in broadband.
A Fujitsu spokesman said the company is "willing to invest in the order of £1.5 billion to £2 billion" in the project over the next five years.
Fujitsu’s Andy Stevenson said, "The Government has recognised that the UK languishes at 27th in the world for broadband – we’re offering a service to residential customers potentially next year."
He added that "unless something like our scheme takes place, we’ll be left with BT as the only choice."
Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt has said that the UK will have the best superfast broadband infrastructure in Europe by the end of the current parliament.
UK Communication Minister Ed Vaizey said creating the super-fast broadband network will help improve the economic and social prospects of the homes and businesses where high-speed Internet access remains just a dream.
Vaizey said, "the Government is investing over £500m in taking superfast broadband to everyone. I am delighted that Fujitsu along with Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Cisco share the Government’s vision."
"The collaboration between these companies was exactly the sort of ambition and innovation the Government wanted to stimulate by removing barriers to broadband rollout."
