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The updated USO would replace the existing regulations, which compel BT to provide a landline phone and dial-up internet access to every home in the country.

BT has long argued that other telcos should contribute to the USO, and has previously suggested that its proposed investment in fibre broadband would hinge on its obligation being lessened.

It now seems

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Minister Stephen Carter agrees, according to a report in The Times.

"We are at a tipping point in terms of broadband availability," Carter told the Broadcasting Press Guild last month, where he delivered his vision of "a country universally connected to video-capable broadband of 2Mb/sec," which he described as a "base starter for ten".

Many broadband users in rural areas would be delighted with connections as fast as 2Mb/sec, with many still labouring on actual speeds of only a few hundred Kb/sec or slower.

The new USO comes as the Prime Minister suggested the Government might help pay for a fibre broadband rollout.