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UK based BT said today that it plans to invest $3 billion in super fast broadband providing access to 10 million homes by 2012.

BT says the new broadband will have speeds of up to 100 Mb/s with the potential for speeds of more than 1,000 Mb/s.

The company says its broadband plan will only be rolled out if regulator Ofcom allows it to receive a good return on its investment.

"We want to work with local and regional bodies to decide where and when we should focus the deployment," said BT chief executive Ian Livingston. "Our aim is that urban and rural areas alike will benefit from our investment."

To pay for the project BT said it will suspend its share buy-back program on July 31.

BT says a fiber-based super-fast broadband will give users enough speed to run multiple bandwidth applications. The company says the new service will allow people to watch high definition movies while others are gaming or working on graphics or video projects. The service will allow users to have improved "upstream " speeds and to post videos, use hi-def video conferencing and interactive hi-def gaming.

"Broadband has boosted the UK economy and is now an essential part of our customers' lives," said Livingston. "We now want to make a step-change in broadband provision, which will offer faster speeds than ever before. This marks the beginning of a new chapter in Britain's broadband story."