The Government's programme to roll out superfast broadband around two years behind schedule, the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned.

In a report published today, the NAO said competition for the contracts to make broadband available in local authority areas ‘has been limited' with BT as the only active participant and likely to win all 44 projects.

According to the report, the programme will be completed 22 months later than planned.

It also warns the project funding contributed by BT to the project has been lower than originally planned, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) expects the company to provide just 23% of the of the overall projected cost.

‘The rural broadband project is moving forward late and without the benefit of strong competition to protect public value,' said NAO head, Amyas Morse. ‘For this we will have to rely on the Department's active use of the controls it has negotiated and strong supervision by Ofcom.'

A DCMS spokesman said: ‘Government is delivering a transformation in broadband and already 100,000 more homes and businesses are getting access to superfast broadband each week.

‘Around 88% of the country will have access to superfast broadband by December 2015, with an estimated 90% getting superfast coverage by early 2016. An extra £250 million of investment means we will reach 95% of premises by 2017 and we are now exploring with industry how to expand coverage further, using more innovative fixed, wireless and mobile broadband solutions, to reach at least 99 per cent of premises in the UK by 2018.'