‘Outdated BT internet cable is damaging the economy’

BT has been accused of laying old-fashioned phone lines that have left Britain trailing behind European rivals.

Critics say the firm’s Openreach arm has been using outdated copper wires to connect homes to the internet, instead of fibre cables which families would need for superfast broadband.

The boss of Vodafone, the UK’s biggest mobile phone company, yesterday attacked the move and blamed ministers for failing to force BT to put in the most modern technology. Nick Jeffery, chief executive of Vodafone UK, said millions of homes and businesses still relied on copper wires to connect to the internet when they should be given access to faster technology.

He said fibre-optic cables were vital for a ‘21st-century economy’ but Britain was not investing enough in them.

Mr Jeffery said: ‘There is no conceivable way that this 20th-century infrastructure is fit for a 21stcentury digital economy… In parallel, you have absolutely the right technology being deployed pretty much everywhere else in the world.’

The Government has embarked on a major overhaul of the broadband system in a bid to get more homes connected to the web. Previously, all phone lines were based on copper wires running along streets, but copper cables cannot carry superfast broadband speeds.

Fibre cabling is being put in to many streets. But copper cables are still used to connect homes to the junction box on the street. This means that even if the street has fibre cabling, their speed will be slowed because they have only a copper connection to the property.

The Government gave Openreach £1.7billion to ensure everyone had this type of connection.

Yesterday digital minister Matt Hancock insisted this had to be done before it focused on fibre-optic cables.

In Spain and Portugal more than 80 per cent of premises have direct access to fibre cables, compared with about 2 per cent in the UK.

Mr Jeffery said connecting premises directly with fibre cables should be standard practice. But Mr Hancock said: ‘We have got to complete the rollout of the current copper to the premises technology, so people can have that basic level of service they need to participate in the internet economy.’