BT exec says Ireland falling behind UK on fibre broadband

Ireland is at risk of falling behind Britain with its fibre optic broadband plans, according to the outgoing chief executive of BT Ireland.

Speaking to Business & Leadership, Graham Sutherland said the country's super-fast broadband deployments are continuing apace, with 90 per cent of homes in Northern Ireland set to be connected to the technology by next year.

However, he warned several other nations - including England, Scotland and Wales - are pushing forward rapidly with their next-generation access proposals and could leave Ireland behind.

"I think the UK is beginning to move quite quickly because all the parties are aligned and they have public funding set aside to do a proportion of it," Mr Sutherland stated.

The UK has more than £3 billion in funding for fibre broadband available thanks to public money and investment from BT, he claimed.

His comments come shortly after the telecoms giant announced an additional 114 UK exchange areas will receive fibre broadband access by next autumn.