It's official - the regulators are not going to stop British Telecom from going ahead with putting faster Internet in throughout the UK as long as it's financially viable.

Some non-UK readers might wonder why the regulator had to get involved - it's because we have a strange and twisty history in terms of public and private ownership and is regulated up to the hilt as a start.

It was in private hands until the late 1960s, by which time it had become part of the General Post Office (GPO) over here and became almost the only telephone company we had after it was nationalised. In the early eighties the pendulum swung against nationalisation and the GPO was split up into operating divisions, some of which - including what would become British Telecom - were sold off.

It still retains a substantial majority of the market, which is why it has to ask the Government every time it wants to innovate. This time around they've just said yes.

What's going to be interesting is what we'll do with all this broadband. I can already get a decent picture from the BBC iPlayer on my computer screen - will I be able to get HD in future? Is there scope for transmitting 3D motion pictures as I saw demonstrated in Paris a couple of years ago, and if there is, will people bother buying the screens?

I have a feeling this one will run and run. Quickly. And then maybe - just maybe - we'll find out how fast is fast enough.