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BT accused of ignoring final third with fibre broadband rollout
The Country Land and Business Association said BT is focused on making "the already-fast faster".
Earlier this week, the telecoms giant announced plans to roll out super-fast broadband to a further 114 exchanges across Britain, with the work set to benefit more than one million homes and businesses.
The upgrades are due to be completed by autumn 2012 as part of BT's £2.5 billion plan to deploy fibre broadband to two-thirds of properties by 2015. Additional locations will be added to the programme in the coming months.
Although the CLA acknowledged the investment is welcome, the campaign group said rural residents and businesses may still miss out as the funding aims to make "the already-fast faster rather than addressing the needs of the countryside".
President William Worsley stated the two-thirds of premises that BT intends to include in its rollout already have "decent" broadband connectivity.
"BT should focus on those rural areas with barely adequate broadband or none at all," he insisted. "The final third of the country still lacks any broadband service and will be even further behind by 2015."
Areas that are included in the deployment will benefit from competition between rival broadband providers thanks to BT's commitment to making its infrastructure available on an open, wholesale basis, the company explained.
Mr Worsley went on to restate the CLA's belief that a public-private partnership is required to address the broadband needs of businesses and householders in the UK's most remote communities.
The CLA boss went on to welcome Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's assertion that broadband-related development projects are one of the government's key priorities to drive economic growth in rural areas.
"Mr Clegg must provide more information about how and when these projects will move forward," he added.