BT Openreach defends broadband rollout

BT Openreach has defended its rollout of "superfast broadband".

The division is responsible for installing and maintaining the optical fibre necessary to provide download speeds of 24 megabits per second or more. The infrastructure is then used by both BT and its rivals to offer internet access to homes and businesses.

Openreach has been criticised for the amount of time it is taking to provide the service to some urban areas, while some rural communities complain they are getting much lower speeds and sometimes no coverage at all.

"I really understand that anyone who hasn't yet got access to superfast broadband, they're going to be impatient to get hold of it, but... this country now does have 90% with fibre and we're pushing on at a tremendous rate," Openreach's chief executive Joe Garner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Mr Garner also rejected calls for Openreach to be split off from BT - something the communications regulator Ofcom is considering after saying that the division's performance had "too often been poor".

Watch the full interview with Today's Justin Webb in the clip above.