The roll-out of super-fast broadband delivered via a national fibre-optic broadband network is becoming a hot political topic.

The Government has caused controversy with its proposed broadband tax to fund the roll-out of fibre-optic broadband for all by 2017.

The Conservatives have been anti the broadband tax, preferring deregulation as a means of stimulating broadband investment.

And there is news today that Jeremy Hunt, the shadow minister with responsibility for broadband issues, has reiterated the Conservatives aim to deliver high-speed fibre-optic broadband to every home in Britain, but has not said by when.

The Tories are planning regulatory changes aimed at speeding-up the development of a high-speed infrastructure.

Mr Hunt said the changes should stimulate investment by BT's competitors because, by using its ducts, they would avoid the cost of digging up roads to install fibre cables.

'What we are doing, I am absolutely sure, is to increase the competitive intensity in the market between the major players, and that will stimulate much more investment,' he said.

Sky and TalkTalk, the UK's second and fourth largest broadband providers, currently rely on DSL broadband networks and are both considering the case for building their own fibre-optic broadband networks, although no decisions have been taken.

Mr Hunt said: 'If you talk to the other players in the market there is a willingness to invest substantial sums of money.'

This is made more feasible as BT said yesterday that it may give rivals such as Carphone Warehouse access to its underground network tunnels, allowing the firms to lay their own fibre-optic cables into people's homes