BT will “never say no” to providing faster broadband for rural communities its chief executive has announced as he unveiled plans for the south west’s digital future.

The telecommunications giant has revealed it is aiming for a new universal minimum broadband speed of 5-10 megabits per second (Mbps) for every home and business, subject to regulatory support.

It has said the vast majority of people will get well ahead of the minimum speeds with plans to extend fibre broadband coverage beyond the government’s 95 per cent of premises target.

Ten million premises across the UK will also get a boost from ultrafast broadband with speeds of 300-500Mbps by end of 2020.

BT chief executive Gavin Patterson committed BT to supporting the government in delivering a new universal minimum broadband speed of 5-10Mbps - enough for everyone in the UK to enjoy popular internet services like high definition video.

He also pledged the company would introduce a satellite broadband service for some of the UK’s more remote premises by the end of the year.

He made clear BT would “never say no” to providing faster broadband to communities, promising the company would instead explore innovative funding and technical solutions. He said 90 communities in the UK were already benefitting from this approach.

Jon Reynolds, regional director for BT in the South West, said: “These proposals will have a major impact on the future success and prosperity of the South West. BT is already leading the way with nearly 2 million households and businesses in the region having access to high-speed fibre broadband - and the number is growing by about 6,000 a week.

“Now we are preparing to push ahead with the ultrafast broadband revolution and ensure that even people in the most challenging locations can get broadband capable of delivering sophisticated services, such as high definition video.

“In an increasingly competitive world, this further major investment will be another vital boost for our region. Nobody is doing more than BT to ensure that the South West has world class broadband communications.”

Consultants KPMG have produced a report which values the impact of BT’s future commitments as worth £20-£30 billion to the UK economy over the next decade.