24Mbps broadband speeds promised by BT

But only for a million UK households

2 May 2008 11:37 GMT / By Katie Scott

A lucky few in the UK could soon have access to much faster broadband connections.

BT Wholesale is to start offering ISPs access to its new 21st Century Network from this week.

The ADSL2+ technology supports broadband connection speeds of allegedly up to 24Mb per second.

But there is no guarantee that the customers offering this service will actually see their broadband hit these sorts of speeds.

"Line speeds will be subject to individual line conditions", BT said in a statement.

Online reports have repeated the caveat that broadband speeds delivered over ADSL always drop sharply the further the home is from the exchange.

And, another grumble, only around a million households around the country will be able to get access to the service at this stage.

A wider roll-out will follow as BT has promised that the new technology will reach a "potential footprint of 10 million homes and businesses by the spring of 2009".

Some UK broadband users already have access to ADSL2+ connections as ISPs including Sky, O2 and Be, have already begun to deploy their own technologies at exchanges.