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Telecommunications giant BT has announced that it will be investing an extra £1 billion over the next five years to bring next generation broadband to nearly 70 percent of British households.

A quarter of them will have access to fibre to the home with download speeds rising to 100Mbps and uploads reaching a staggering 30Mbps.  The rest enjoying Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) which is both less costly and can be more easily implemented.

According to BT plans, four million households will be connected to its fibre optic services and gain access to 40Mbps broadband by the end of the year.

Ian Livingstone, BT's CEO, said that the investment would bring the total investment in bringing fibre-optic based broadband to around £2.5 billion.  Total revenues for the group approached £21 billion, a figure that nearly matched last year's numbers but were significantly more than what City analysts were expecting.

BT profits rose to £1 billion in the 12 months up to the 31st of March 2010.  This compares with losses of £244 million for the previous 12 months.  The announcement came on the day BT inked a strategic partnership with US-based gaming company Onlive to become its exclusive dealer in the UK.

Livingstone also confirmed that the company will significantly overhaul its television offerings with more details set to follow shortly.

BT has morphed into a triple play actor and with the addition of gaming to its portfolio will only need mobile phones to propose UK's largest range of media services.

Source:-   ITProPortal (http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/5/13/bt-details-plans-super-fast-nationwide-broadband/#12).