Boris Johnson is expected to announce a big subsidy to support the rollout of fibre broadband to rural areas AlamyBT shares nudged higher this morning following reports over the weekend that the prime minister was about to give the telecoms giant a helping hand. Boris Johnson is expected to announce a £5 billion subsidy to support the rollout of fibre broadband to rural areas at the Conservative party conference in Manchester this week. BT had previously argued that there was no commercial case for it to roll out the technology to sparsely populated areas, which account for 10 per cent of the country and are predominantly Tory strongholds. Analysts from across the City chipped in with their views this morning and all were in agreement that BT would be a big beneficiary of the government’s intervention. “If accurate, [this] is positive for BT’s investment…

Source: The Times September 30, 2019 11:05 UTC