BT is rolling out more fibre in London - including in the Tech City start-up hub centred in Shoreditch.
The infrastructure upgrades follow months of criticism that the capital's broadband isn't good enough - particularly for start-ups in east London, with one MP saying it wasn't "fit for purpose" and another calling it "a joke".
BT is answering that with more funding for fibre, rolling out broadband to another 32,000 homes and businesses in the Tech City area over the next two years, taking the total to 82,000.
"Tech City UK has been working with BT Group and other service providers to help identify where additional coverage would be of most benefit to the tech community," said Gerard Grech, CEO of Tech City UK, the government quango designed to promote UK start-up scenes, in a statement.
"This investment represents a step in the right direction for digital businesses across the capital, and there is a collective responsibility for property developers, service providers and industry bodies to ensure that high-speed broadband is available to all."
Aside from Tech City, BT also said this week it would extend its fibre rollout in Bexley to another 19,106 locations; in Barking and Dagenham by 2,187; in Croydon by 9,368; in Kensington and Chelsea by 20,213; in Greenwich by 10,290; and in Barnet by 7,779 premises.
The funding isn't new, but is part of a 50 million pot the company set aside for cities last year, alongside its 3 billion funding to upgrade networks across the UK.
BT said the London-wide investment will increase fibre availability from 90 per cent to 95 per cent of premises.
"Installing fibre in urban areas can be challenging, but thanks to new techniques and extra investment we will now be able to reach hundreds of thousands of additional homes and businesses across London," said Joe Garner, CEO of Openreach, in a statement.
Those techniques include upgrading city cabinets "that weren't part of the original commerical plans due to technical challenges or local planning restrictions".
BT is also using fibre to the remote node, which brings fibre closer to a building without being true fibre-to-the-premise by installing smaller remote cabinets on telegraph poles or inside manholes nearby properties.
