TalkTalk are set to increase their own network by unbundling even more exchanges and giving them 90% coverage of the UK in the next year and to also get customers onto fibre broadband.
TalkTalk currently have 1700 exchanges in the UK unbundled and plan to add an extra 300 which would take them over 2000 in total around the UK.
On the TalkTlak blog it said the following:
“We’ve currently unbundled just over 1,700 phone exchanges around the UK, meaning that our customers near these exchanges are on our own fibre network rather than on BT’s legacy infrastructure. This gives us coverage for about 80% of the UK population but our aim is to increase this over the next year. We’re planning to unbundle a further 300 exchanges, taken us to over 2,000 in total, and pushing us to coverage of nearly 90% of the population.
We’re also upgrading the capacity of our network in anticipation of ever-higher internet usage. The industry expectation is that consumption of data online will increase by a whopping 50% year on year over the next few years. We’re enhancing our network to cope with this explosive rise in demand.
This upward trend is being boosted by the rise of online TV and video services like BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and, of course, YouTube. Soon these will be joined by Canvas, the online TV service we are a part of, which will provide an iPlayer-style catch-up service on your TV set, while also giving you additional content and features.”
Lats month TalkTalk also announced that all it’s customers would receive a free upgrade to their 24Mb broadband speeds offered by ADSL2+.