BT hit out yesterday at plans to force it to make broadband available to every household in Britain, as it neared its ten millionth wholesale connection — double its official target.

Ben Verwaayen, the chief executive of BT, said that the group’s success in attracting broadband customers indicated that new rules proposed by Ofcom, the regulator, were unnecessary. Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom, said last month that once 75 per cent of all homes in Britain had taken up broadband, it ought to be considered a necessity that should be made available to all.

Mr Verwaayen said: “I do not think there is a need for that.” He added that the “power of the technology itself” was enough to ensure that broadband uptake and reach would continue to grow. In April 2002, soon after he joined BT, Mr Verwaayen set a target — which the company regarded as ambitious — of securing five million wholesale connections by the end of 2006. The group will hit ten million this week.

That figure includes both wholesale customers, who buy BT’s product and sell it on to their own retail customers, and so-called local loop unbundlers, who have signed up with BT’s independent Openreach division to put their kit into BT exchanges. The number does not include cable broadband customers.

Exceeding ten million connections so swiftly showed that broadband was “firmly established at the heart ot the UK economy”, Mr Verwaayen said.

According to BT, more than 99.8 per cent of the UK population can access broadband. More than 40 per cent of homes have an “always-on” connection, compared with 15 per cent two years ago.

Britain, which had a notoriously slow start with fast internet technology, is enjoying increasing success as hundreds of providers compete to offer faster speeds and lower prices.

Uptake has been fuelled by the growing number of online applications, such as social networking and music downloading sites.

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