Ultra-fast broadband could be available on demand to any home or business passed by BT's fibre optic broadband network in the coming months - or at least, that's the telecoms giant's plan following the successful trial of an innovative new service.
The company has been quietly testing its new fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) on demand technology in the Cornish village of St Agnes and claimed the feedback it has received from businesses has largely been excellent.
To put it simply, FTTP on demand allows individual households and businesses to sign up for ultra-fast broadband - which will soon offer speeds of up to 300Mbps - by tasking BT with running fibre optic cables between their nearest street cabinet and their property.
Additional trials of the service are due to be carried out this summer and if these go as well as the original pilot, BT is hoping for a commercial launch by spring 2013.
On the face of it, this is great news. It means that all seven million properties currently covered by BT's fibre broadband network will theoretically be able to benefit from FTTP-speed connectivity if or when they require it. What's more, with two-thirds of the UK set to gain access to the company's super-fast broadband infrastructure by the end of 2014, the service could benefit a huge number of people.
But despite all this positivity about the technology, we must admit to having our concerns - primarily that this could be used by BT as an excuse to ease back on its plans to roll out FTTP to more communities.
At present, only a small number of exchange areas are served by FTTP. By leaving it up to customers and businesses to demand access, BT will reduce the risk of deploying the costly infrastructure to villages, towns and cities that may have little desire for ultra-fast broadband.
But at the same time, the cost of rolling out the technology is effectively being passed on to consumers and rival internet service providers, which could have a huge impact on the potential growth of FTTP.