BT is poised to make its 10 millionth broadband connection this week, doubling its initial target of five million connections by the end of 2006. 

The 10 million wholesale connections are shared between BT Wholesale and BT Openreach. 

Just under nine million of these customers are connected through BT Wholesale, while the remaining 1.3 million lines are supplied to customers by BT Openreach via local loop unbundlers.

BT set itself the five million connections target back in April 2002 when there were fewer than 150,000 DSL connections in the UK.

Broadband availability in the UK was only 66 per cent in 2002, but the figure is now 99.8 per cent.

Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of BT Group, claimed that the UK is now the most competitive broadband market in the world, with over 200 service providers from which customers can choose.

"That means fantastic choice and value for consumers, and a constant stream of new and innovative applications," he said.

BT reported that, including cable customers, more than 13 million people in the UK now use broadband.