1.5 million homes to have access by early summer 2010
BT today revealed the next locations where it will make super-fast fibre broadband available . The new locations cover more than a million homes and businesses across the UK.
The acceleration of BT’s plans will see 1.5 million homes have access to such services by early summer 2010 . A million of those homes will have access by March, which is a doubling of the original pace of deployment.
The plan is the first chapter in BT’s longer-term programme to make super-fast fibre broadband available to 40 per cent of the UK – or some 10 million homes - by 2012. The company has pledged to spend £1.5 billion – the UK’s biggest single commercial investment in fibre broadband – on this programme.
Unlike other companies, BT will offer access to service providers on an open, wholesale basis thereby supporting a competitive market.
Steve Robertson, CEO of Openreach, the division of BT responsible for the roll-out said: “Fibre is the future and so we’re speeding up the pace of our plans. We had aimed to get fibre to half a million homes by next March but we’re now being far more ambitious. We’ve received a tremendous response to date and so we’re keen to get on with the job.
“BT has invested billions in creating Broadband Britain yet it has done so whilst offering others equal access to its network – demonstrating once again that competition doesn’t have to be a barrier to investment.”
Sixty nine locations across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will benefit from this latest phase of BT’s investment programme. The pilots of the technology went live this week in Muswell Hill, London and Whitchurch, South Wales. Sixteen service providers are participating in the pilots.
This investment falls within BT’s current capital expenditure plans.
List of locations:
Name Region / Nation
BERKHAMSTED East of England
BILLERICAY East of England
BRENTWOOD East of England
ELSTREE East of England
HAINAULT East of England
HODDESDON East of England
LEA VALLEY East of England
LOUGHTON East of England
STANFORD-LE-HOPE East of England
WALTHAM CROSS East of England
WOODFORD East of England
GLOSSOP East Midlands
HINCKLEY East Midlands
BARKING London
BARNET London
ELTHAM London
GREENWICH London
HORNCHURCH London
INGREBOURNE London
NEW SOUTHGATE London
PONDERS END London
SIDCUP London
SLADE GREEN London
STAMFORD HILL London
CHESTER-LE-STREET North East
DURHAM North East
EAST HERRINGTON North East
HETTON-LE-HOLE North East
ALTRINCHAM North West
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE North West
CHEETHAM North West
CHORLTON North West
DENTON North West
HYDE North West
MANCHESTER EAST North West
MOSS SIDE North West
PRESTWICH North West
STALYBRIDGE North West
SWINTON, GREATER MANCHESTER North West
URMSTON North West
WALKDEN North West
WILMSLOW North West
LISBURN Northern Ireland
EDINBURGH CORSTORPHINE Scotland
EDINBURGH CRAIGLOCKHART Scotland
GLASGOW BRIDGETON Scotland
GLASGOW GIFFNOCK Scotland
BASINGSTOKE South East
DARTFORD South East
BRISTOL NORTH South West
BRISTOL WEST South West
DOWNEND South West
BARRY Wales
CAERPHILLY Wales
PENARTH Wales
BIRMINGHAM, NORTHERN West Midlands
FALLINGS PARK West Midlands
GREAT BARR West Midlands
LEAMORE West Midlands
NUNEATON West Midlands
TETTENHALL West Midlands
WEDNESBURY West Midlands
WALSALL West Midlands
ARMLEY Yorkshire
CASTLEFORD Yorkshire
HEADINGLEY Yorkshire
LOW MOOR Yorkshire
PONTEFRACT Yorkshire
SHIPLEY Yorkshire
Questions and Answers:
Q. Will you be rolling out FTTP or FTTC to these areas?
A. BT will be rolling out a mix of the two technologies but we expect that FTTC will be the most widely deployed.
Q. What is FTTP?
A. Fibre to the premise (FTTP) is a solution whereby fibre-optic cable is deployed from the exchange directly into the customer premise supporting super-fast broadband. It delivers downstream speeds of up to 100Mb/s – and potentially up to 1000Mb/s in the future - and upstream speeds of up to 40Mb/s.
Q. What is FTTC?
A. Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) is a solution whereby fibre optic cable is deployed from the exchange to the street cabinet with the remainder of the connection - from the cabinet to the premise - using copper wiring. This combination of fibre and copper can be used to support super-fast broadband with speeds of up to 40mb/s initially, potentially rising to 60Mb/s in the future. Initial upstream speeds will be between 5 and 10Mbit/s rising to 15Mb/s.
Q. What criteria has BT used to select the latest locations to benefit from fibre-based broadband?
A. BT has consulted closely with its communications provider and service provider customers and with local and national government agencies to agree this next set of locations.
Q. How is BT making its fibre-based broadband technology available to consumers, businesses and service providers?
A. BT will offer access on an open, wholesale basis through both Openreach and BT Wholesale.
Q. When will these services be commercially available to consumer and businesses? How much will these services cost?
A. BT has already made these services available in Muswell Hill and Whitchurch and will be making the service available in further areas from March. It will be up to the individual providers to decide the timescales for offering these services to their end customers and to set the pricing.
Q. What does the Government's Digital Britain Report and the NGA Fund mean for BT?
A. BT believes there is no commercial case at present to extend fibre-based broadband much beyond 50 per cent of the UK, so we welcome the creation of an NGA Fund – as proposed in the Government's Digital Britain Report - as a creative and pragmatic solution for extending fibre-based broadband to parts of the country where otherwise it would not be economical to do so. BT is alone in having an open network that hundreds of other companies can and do access and we believe that funding should only be available to companies that are prepared to open their networks. BT looks forward to participating in the industry consultation on the NGA fund which opens in the Autumn.
