BT on spending spree to promote broadband

British Telecom is spending £10m (€15.85m) to promote the potential of broadband in what it believes is the UK’s most intensive TV ad campaign ever, it said today.

The telecoms giant wants to double the number of people taking up broadband to 24,000 a week in a bid to have a million subscribers by next summer.

A 10-day high-profile ad campaign will begin this Sunday, promoting the benefits of high-speed Internet access.

It was launched in a fanfare today by Nell McAndrew and Christine Hamilton, fresh from their success on I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!.

BT has focused on increasing its share of the market since new chief executive Ben Verwaayen joined the business in February.

The group currently has 350,000 broadband users on its network, either through its own product or other Internet service providers such as Freeserve.

It will launch a new broadband package, BT Broadband, in October and plans to showcase the product through a tie-up with Carphone Warehouse.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT’s retail division, said the group was helping to kick-start the broadband market in the UK.

Broadband is up to ten times faster than traditional Internet connections and is “always on”, allowing customers to use the phone at the same time.