BT's forthcoming £1.5 billion investment in a new national fibre-optic broadband network should provide a boost to businesses and consumers, it is reported.

The telecommunications company has said up to ten million homes will be connected to the upgraded service by 2012, the ITPro website says.

BT has stated it intends to work with the government and local authorities in its roll-out of the new network, it adds.

ITPro suggests that although the broadband debate often focuses on the divide between urban and rural areas, businesses located on the edge of towns can actually suffer from being too far away from the telephone exchange to enable high-speed access.

The website reports Clare McCarthy, principal analyst at the industry analyst Ovum, comments that questions have been put to BT regarding how the new service will operate in practice, adding: "They have committed to fibre for new-build business parks and public sector buildings such as schools and hospitals, but they have given no more detail."

Last month, it was revealed BT is to manage Nationwide Building Society's networked IT services after it signed a seven-year outsourcing contract.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent) In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'