We won't take chances, says BT's Verwaayen

Broadband priority not to point of 'financial irresponsibility'

Broadband is still BT's top priority, but not to the point of ?financial irresponsibility?, chief executive Ben Verwaayen told Computing.

'BT has made a commitment on broadband and we will do everything in our power to fulfill that.

'But BT is not an institution with an obligation to bring technology to the UK - we are a profit-based organisation with two million shareholders and our first obligation is to make sure what we do is financially acceptable.

'We are not an institution where, as long as you criticise hard enough, we will go out and do what is financially irresponsible,' said Verwaayen.

BT's much-publicised targets are for one million broadband customers by summer 2003, and five million by 2007.

Price, availability and content are the three crucial issues, says Verwaayen.

'We are trying to get away from price, to availability, and then to what you can do with it.

'And that is not a question for BT, this is a question for society at large.

'Broadband will change industry, government, television - it's not the next product, it's the next big thing in telecommunications,' he said.

Egovernment will be a key factor in bringing broadband to rural areas.

'If we had a programme to enable hospitals and schools then we would have enormous pick-up,' he said.

BT has also announced that Todmorden in West Yorkshire is the first non-broadband area to reach the level of ADSL demand required for BT to upgrade its local exchange.

And later this month BT Retail will launch its biggest-ever broadband advertising campaign.