Brown hints at broadband investment

Super-fast broadband deployment in the UK could be boosted by government investment, Gordon Brown has suggested.

The prime minister told the Observer about the government's plans to create a number of public works to help boost jobs and stave off the worst of the recession.

One such project could be the improvement of the UK's internet infrastructure, the funding of which has been the matter of debate in recent months.

Mr Brown likened the government's scheme to that of early 20th century US president Franklin D Roosevelt, whose "New Deal" helped the USA through the Great Depression.

"When we talk about the roads and the bridges and the railways that were built in previous times - and those were anti-recession measures taken to help people through difficult times - you could [by comparison] talk about the digital infrastructure and that form of communications revolution at a period when we want to stimulate the economy," he told the newspaper.

"It's a very important thing."

BT has already pledged to invest £1.5 billion into fibre optic technology, in order to bring super-fast broadband to up to ten million homes by 2012.