Vodafone UK has heavily criticised the £1.2 billion Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme that aims to make fixed-line superfast broadband (25Mb/s minimum) available to 95 per cent of the UK by 2017.

“The current BDUK process simply will not deliver value for money nor the rural connectivity that Britain needs,” said a Vodafone UK spokesperson. “The government should urgently revise the process to encompass wireless 4G in order to make digital Britain a reality.”

Vodafone’s comments come in the wake a damning report published by a parliamentary committee on the BDUK scheme.

The report accuses the government of allowing BT, the UK’s fixed-line incumbent, to build a “quasi-monopolistic position which it is exploiting by restricting access to cost and roll-out information”.

As a result, concludes the committee, the UK consumer is failing to get the benefits of healthy competition and BT will end up owning assets created from £1.2 billion of public money.

All of the 26 contracts let by June 2013 had gone to BT and the remaining 18 are likely to follow suit, observes the report

A BT spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk that “we have been transparent from the start and willing to invest when others have not”, adding that “the taxpayer is undoubtedly getting value for money”.

BT says it faces a payback period of around 15 years on its rural broadband investments in spite of the subsidies available.