BT has announced plans to ensure every home and business in the North-East and North Yorkshire has minimum broadband speeds of 5Mbps.

The communications company has also revealed plans to roll out ultrafast broadband which gives speeds of up to 500Mbps Speaking at BT’s Delivering Britain’s Digital Future conference in London, BT Chief Executive Gavin Patterson today unveiled proposals to:

• tackle slow speeds in hard-to-reach parts of the country

• achieve a step-change in speeds overall, with ultrafast rollout starting next year

• improve customer service, through a number of commitments unveiled by Openreach.

He said: “For the past five years, the UK has been the largest digital economy in the G20, by percentage of GDP. We think the UK has an even brighter future ahead if we make the right decisions today.

“We want to forge an ultrafast future for Britain and stand ready to help government deliver the broadband speeds necessary for every property to enjoy modern day internet services, such as high definition TV streaming and cloud computing. To achieve this, we need a collaborative effort across industry and government.”

Simon Roberson, regional partnership director for BT in the North East, added: “These proposals will have a major impact on the future success and prosperity of the North East. BT is already leading the way with nearly 900,000 households and businesses in the region having access to high-speed fibre broadband - and that number continues to grow each week.

“Now we are preparing to push ahead with the ultrafast broadband revolution and ensure that even people in the most challenging locations can get broadband capable of delivering sophisticated services, such as high definition video.

"In an increasingly competitive world, this further major investment will be another vital boost for our region.”