BT asks ministers to help pay for low-cost broadband for poorest customers

Critics say telecoms firms such as BT - which made 1.9bn profit last year - can afford to keep customers on benefits connected

BT has warned that the telecoms industry cannot afford an estimated potential annual loss of up to 2bn providing low-cost broadband to millions of the UK's most financially pressured households, but critics have said they have an obligation to do so.

Marc Allera, the chief executive of BT's consumer division, which includes the mobile company EE, said the industry needed government support to help cover the ongoing cost of providing cheap tariffs, the same way households have been helped with energy bills.