Use of business broadband in the UK 'on the up'

More people appear to be investing in business broadband connections, triggering a rise in profits for leading telecommunications firm BT.

The company has announced it made £628 million in the quarter to December 31st, up by 18 per cent on the previous three months.

Ian Livingston, chief executive of BT, said one of the key factors behind the results is its decision to launch superfast broadband links that are now available to more than seven million premises in the UK.

"Our fixed-line base has now grown for the last five quarters and our active consumer line loss is at its lowest for five years," he explained.

During the quarter, more than 95,000 new customers signed up to BT Infinity and 146,000 retail users were added.

BT recently announced it is to extend its pilot project of bringing the fastest broadband speeds to apartment blocks, as part of its ongoing commitment to rolling out links across the UK.