Regular readers of our blog will know that BT has committed to invest £1.5bn in a fibre optic (fibre to the cabinet (FTTC)) broadband network that will cover 40% of the country by 2012. IN preparation for the roll-out, BT recently started two pilot schemes of the new fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) network in Muswell Hill, London, and Whitchurch, South Glamorgan. The trials cover over 30,000 premises in the two areas, with the potential to deliver broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps.
Hot on the heels of the trial, TalkTalk have announced that they will piggy-back the trial and offer their customers up to 40 Mb/sec fibre optic broadband in both Muswell Hill and Whitchurch. The TalkTalk trial, which will also allow uploads at up to 2Mb, will run from this month until January 2010, and TalkTalk plans to offer fibre-based broadband to its entire network if the trial proves successful.
“As with ADSL technologies the speed that a customer gets is dependent on the distance from the green cabinets on streets. 95 per cent of people will be expected to get close to 40Mb,” said TalkTalk.
Customers taking part in the trial will receive a new router and modem to handle the faster download speeds, and will receive the Essentials broadband and home phone package for free for the duration of the trial. Customers will still have to pay line rental costs.
Users will also have their standard 40GB download allowance upgraded to an unlimited download allowance to allow them to make the most of the up to 40 Mb/sec ultra-fast broadband speeds.
The trial reflects the DSL broadband providers recognition that broadband speed is a key battle ground going forward, and they will not be able to compete in the longer term without access to fibre-optic broadband technology. DSL broadband only allows a maximum of up to 24Mb/sec, (without major further investment).
And a recent Ofcom study showed that the UK average broadband speed is just 4.1Mb/secs, which is just 57% of the average ‘up to’ headline speed of 7.1 Mb/sec. The average speed delivered to urban consumers was 4.6Mbit/s, compared to an average of 3.3Mbit/s delivered to rural consumers.
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