LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's telecoms industry needs to make 'full-fibre' broadband available to 15 million homes and businesses by 2025, finance minister Philip Hammond is set to announce to business leaders later on Tuesday.
Full-fibre networks are up to 40 times faster than the partly copper-wire networks which are also used by telecoms companies such as BT, who have faced criticism from businesses for being slow to roll out new technology.
"This evening I will set a target to see full-fibre connections being available to 15 million premises, that's the majority of homes and businesses, by 2025," Hammond said before the Confederation of British Industry's annual dinner.
"We won't do that by government diktat. We will do it by creating the conditions for the market to deliver," he added.
(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Andy Bruce)
