UK housebuilders and BT agree on broadband-ready new homes

Under a government-led agreement, more than half of all new-build properties in the UK are expected to be connected to fibre broadband free of charge to developers, with the remainder of schemes to be supplied as part of a co-funded initiative.

Ed Vaizey, minister for the digital economy, said: “Broadband connectivity is just one thing that homebuyers now expect when buying a new build, so this industry-led push to make superfast, or indeed ultrafast, broadband speeds available by default in new homes represents a very important step in meeting the UK’s digital needs.” The project is part of a wider government push to provide superfast internet services to 95 percent of the UK by 2017 using £1.7 billion of subsidies to extend the network where needed.