We reported yesterday on the launch by BT of two fibre-optic broadband pilot schemes at Muswell Hill, London, and Whitchurch, South Glamorgan. The pilots cover over 30,000 premises in the two areas, with the potential to deliver broadband speeds of up to 40Mb/sec.
Hot on the heels of announcement of these schemes, BT are now committing to rolling out 40 Mb/sec fibre optic broadband to 1m homes by March 2010. This is double the previous target of half a million homes.
Steve Robertson, chief executive of BT’s OpenReach division, which is responsible for broadband, said: “Fibre is the future and so we’re speeding up the pace of our plans.” “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.”
The fibre optic broadband rollout is part of BT’s “21st Century Network” plans which involves a £1.5bn investment to deliver fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband to 40% of the country by 2012.
Virgin Media, BT’s main fibre-optic broadband competitor, are not convinced however.
“Virgin Media already offers the fastest broadband in the country with our ultra-fast 50Mb service,” a company spokesman said. “By the end of this summer we will have completed our next generation roll out to 12.5m homes and we’re already piloting 200Mb. “
Together, BT and Virgin Media’s fibre optic broadband networks will cover about 50%-60% of UK homes, mainly in towns and cities.
BT is angling for government subsidy to extend the fibre optic broadband network coverage and said there is “no commercial case” for extending the coverage beyond 50%. But said it would consider rolling its network out to up to 90% of the country if the terms of Government subsidies were attractive.
If you’re looking to get a super-fast broadband connection, Virgin Media is currently the only widely available fibre optic broadband service. For help choosing between fibre-optic and DSL broadband packages, why not give our helpful experts a call on 0800 466 1047 – we are here to help you compare broadband packages!