Superfast Broadband Roll Out Running Late The Government programme to roll out superfast broadband to 90% of the population is running late and lacks strong competition to protect public value, the National Audit Office has reported. It has already announced that superfast broadband will reach 95% of the population by 2017, just two years after the original target of 90%. Just nine out of 44 local projects are expected to reach the original target, according to the report, with the delay partly attributed to the EU State Aid process taking six months longer than expected. The NAO said that competition among suppliers had been "limited," leaving BT as the only active participant and expected to win all 44 local projects. It warned that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had "secured only limited transparency" over the costs in BT's bids. And it said the DCMS now expected BT to provide just 23% of the overall projected funding of £1.5bn - £207m less than expected. Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: "The rural broadband project is moving forward late and without the benefit of strong competition to protect public value. For this we will have to rely on the department's active use of the controls it has negotiated and strong supervision by Ofcom. Public Accounts Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said. The DCMS has not had a good enough grip on its rural broadband programme.