BT has revealed plans for superfast broadband in Bournemouth, creating a rivalry with the delayed Fibrecity project.

The firm said yesterday it will connect 62,000 homes and businesses in Bournemouth, Southbourne, Winton and Westbourne during 2012.

The work is being done through its network offshoot, Openreach, and will offer speeds of up to 100 megabytes per second.

A superfast connection could let a family download a film, watch a recorded TV programme, and play games online, all at the same time.

Openreach has to offer use of its network to non BT firms because of competition laws, according to Bournemouth University expert Dr Alain Renauld.

That would make it a rival to City Fibre, the successor to Fibrecity, which has been laying its own superfast network.

A BT spokesman said: “The network will be available to all firms offering super-fast broadband services. “This helps ensure a competitive marketplace, which is good news for the customer.”

The Fibrecity project came to a halt last autumn, then restarted in spring after a takeover. The firm hopes to have connections ready for all Bournemouth homes by 2013.

Boss Gregg Mesch said recently that while “lot of companies are throwing numbers around”, its own network could “guarantee” that the headline speeds would be delivered.

Like Openreach, City Fibre is building a network but it is not a service provider.

The news came as it also emerged that Virgin Media is upgrading its own connections.

Virgin manages both the network and the service supplied through it.

A spokesman told the Daily Echo: “We expect to carry out our upgrade in the Bournemouth area this autumn.

“We already have an extensive cable network in place and therefore there is no requirement for us to lay additional cable.”

The three-way rush has been welcomed by the borough council.

Deputy leader Cllr John Beesley said: “Faster and more consistent access to the web will allow businesses to promote trade and growth.”