BT has more than four million broadband customers, confirming its place as the UK's largest high-speed communications provider.

When the firm's broadband strategy was first announced in June 2002 it had roughly 172,000 subscribers. Since then it gained an average of 2000 users per day.

'Four million customers is a great achievement in such a short time,' said BT Retail chief executive Ian Livingston.

'Broadband has proved to be one of the most popular services ever seen.'

BT's national telephone network now supports 11.5 million of the UK's 15 million broadband connections – although many of these are contracted to competing operators through the local loop unbundling process that forced BT to let rivals use its exchanges.

More than half of all UK homes now have a broadband connection, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom.