BT's award-winning regional chief Patricia Vaz has put broadband at the top of her agenda for Kent and Medway.

As BT declared that 100 per cent coverage was achievable by 2005 if industry and Government pulled together, the Kent-based regional director said broadband was her main priority.

The former Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year who was awarded the OBE last year said she would be working closely with Kent and other local councils to speed up the process.

She had just signed up herself to broadband at her home in Chestfield where the local exchange was broadband-enabled in October.

"It's transformed things, makes it so much quicker and less frustrating," she said, adding that 80 per cent of households and businesses across the South East could access an exchange with high speed internet access.

BT has already invested millions of pounds across the region and especially in Kent, but Mrs Vaz said the take up remained disappointingly low.

She admitted that price was a factor, but BT had also failed to market broadband as effectively as it might.

"No, we haven't yet got the message through to enough firms what a big difference broadband can make to their business," she said.

She claimed that the UK's broadband tariff was among the lowest in the world but it needed a stronger marketing message.

Kent County Council has been heavily promoting broadband. Earlier this year, it teamed up with Kent Business to launch a joint campaign to persuade BT to enable more exchanges across the county.

A KCC spokesman said the campaign had undoubtedly played a part in convincing BT that a new impetus was essential.

"It shows that Kent County Council and Kent Business working together can make a real difference," he said.

BT announced it was extending its demand registration by setting triggers for a further 2,300 exchanges serving two million homes and businesses.

Mrs Vaz, 57, grew up in Herne Bay and until recently lived in Herne. She left Simon Langton school in Canterbury with just one A Level but after starting as a clerical officer in the Post Office, rose through BT's ranks to become engineering manager and later director in charge of what was then a failing payphone network.

She transformed BT Payphones it by asking 3,000 engineers to offer solutions and empowering them to act.

Her new role is for just a few days a month but she intends being the eyes, ears and public face of BT in the county.

She is already a Kent Ambassador and aims to be an ambassador for BT as well.

She says she hopes to make a difference. Her performance will be measured by public, business and local council reaction.

She is happy for subscribers to write to her if they cannot get satisfaction elsewhere in BT. "And if Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart [KCC leader] has concerns, then he will tell me."

Mrs Vaz added: "I am determined to ensure that BT will play a major part in helping the South East achieve its true potential," she said.

"Communications technology is an increasingly important part of all our lives, whether we are at home, at school or in a business large or small."