TalkTalk, one of the UK’s largest broadband providers, has said that it will be working to extend the availability of its flagship internet packages to more consumers around the country.

TalkTalk currently offers its basic services to about 80 per cent of the country, which tops its closest rival O2’s 70 per cent availability in UK households. Now TalkTalk says that it will be rolling out its coverage to make sure that 90 per cent of the nation can choose its broadband.

In a press release, TalkTalk said that the 1700 unbundled exchanges that it operates in the UK would be growing to 2000 over the next year. It also said that the speeds of its broadband service would be rising in order to meet the public appetite for data, which experts say is increasing by 50 per cent a year.

TalkTalk is currently trialling its own fibre optic service using the same Infinity network that is bringing about BT broadband deals that have a maximum download speed of 40Mbps. This is the fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology that has been implemented in a number of areas to date and it is, as yet, available in only a limited number of locations.

By next spring BT is hoping to bring high speed ADSL2+ broadband to about 20 million UK customers, which is a more ambitious plan than many of its main provider rivals, although its monopoly over the UK’s broadband infrastructure allows it to develop technologies and services at its own pace.

TalkTalk is proving to be a serious contender in the UK broadband provider market, as its recent acquisitions of smaller firms such as AOL and Tiscali have significantly increased its user base and allowed it to gain market share from established rivals.