UK - Super-Connected Cities plan scaled back following legal challenges by operators

The Guardian reports that BT and Virgin Media have forced HMG to revise its Super-Connect Cities plan:

A government scheme to spend £150m on broadband infrastructure to create 22 "super-connected cities", championed by George Osborne, has been dramatically scaled back following legal challenges. The plan to help cities build superfast internet connections to homes and businesses not served by BT and Virgin Media's existing networks has been reduced to a voucher scheme, the government confirmed on Tuesday, to be spent in areas where connections already exist.

The original scheme, repeatedly highlighted by Osborne in budget statements, was intended to deliver speeds of between 80 and 100 megabits per second to 22 cities, helping 1.7m households and 200,000 premises by 2015, as well as high-speed wireless broadband for 3 million residents.