Readers of The Mail have reacted after a South Lakes resident was quoted over £150,00 for fibre broadband in his area.

Mike Hooper was told by BT it would cost £152,821 to install fibre broadband to his street, three kilometres away from Grizebeck.

68 per cent of the costs accounted to civil-engineering work, with cabling making up 24 per cent and eight per cent for the costs to deliver the broadband.

A BT Spokesperson said: "We’re sorry for the disappointment the quote has caused Mr Hooper.

"Although the USO scheme will deliver for the vast majority of those without decent connectivity today, it hasn’t been designed to overcome the challenges of connecting the most difficult places.

One reader of The Mail commented: “Goes with the territory, if you want to run a business which relies on the internet then don't run it from the middle of nowhere.

“There are other options and it won’t be long before 5G, 6G and beyond make traditional cabled broadband obsolete.

“If you must have it now then pay for it yourself I say, I don't see why the taxpayer should stump up.”

Mr Hooper replied: "Not everyone can afford to relocate just to get fast broadband.

"Rural communities need fast reliable broadband so that people can work from home or run their business, particularly in the current pandemic.

"Everyone in the UK should have access to fast broadband as the Government has pledged.

"The issue in this article is the huge Openreach costs and how they justify them."

To which The Mail reader responded with: "They've justified the cost, it's just that you don't want to pay it.

"Suck it up until you can get a service which doesn't rely on expensive and environmentally unfriendly cabling."

United57 added: "As the government are forcing people and businesses to use the Internet then they should subsidies it.

B4RN can do it cheaper but as it was said there [was not] enough people to sign up."