October 5, 2011
BT Broadband are to offer broadband speeds up to 300Mb via it’s FTTP (Fibre To The Premises/Home) and double the speeds of it’s FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) to around 80Mb during 2012.
 BT Openreach have announced today the speed increases that they are planning to roll out it the BT Fibre broadband network which will see the full fibre broadband connections that are available to some see the launch speeds of 110Mb have their available speeds upped to a whopping 300Mb from Spring 2012. Only a relatively small number of premises are connected via the full Fibre broadband offering from BT to be able to have these broadband speeds as a reality, however, the up to 300Mb broadband speeds do represent broadband speeds 3 times faster than the headline 100Mb broadband that Virgin Media currently offer. It would be little surprise though to see or hear of plans from Virgin media to also increase their headline speeds. We already know that they have run trials that allows them to offer speeds of up to 1.5Gb using the same infrastructure that they have already in place (Virgin’s 1.5Gb broadband trial a success).
On top of this BT also announced that they will be able to double the fibre broadband speeds that the majority of the country will receive via their FTTC deployment from 40Mb to 80Mb.
BT are investing £2.5bn in rolling out fibre broadband across the UK, the majority of which is via Fibre To The Cabinet which then requires the standard copper cables from the streetside cabinet to take broadband the remaining distance, by the end of 2015 they hope to have fibre broadband available to around two thirds of the country.
Liv Garfield, the chief executive of BT Openreach, said:
“Today is a significant step in the UK’s broadband journey. These developments will transform broadband speeds across the country and propel the UK up the broadband league tables.
All our fibre products are fit for the future and these developments show that to be the case. As always, we want to go further and faster and so our journey doesn’t end here. We can turn up the dial should there be demand and so we can look to the future with confidence.
No-one is keener than us to extend these super-fast speeds to rural areas and so we will be bidding for public funds to help extend these services even further. The challenge is a tough one but by working with the public sector it is within our reach.”
BT sell their fibre broadband to customers via BT Infinity.
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June 15, 2011
BT’s (www.bt.com) fibre broadband network is to pass 5 million homes by the end of this month and BT have announced a further 66 exchanges that are set to be enabled with FTTC that will cover a further 1 million homes.
BT are undergoing a huge £2.5bn fibre broadband roll-out across the country and have already got it installed in around 5 million UK homes with the roll out not set to slow down. There are already plenty of other exchanges that are earmarked ready for upgrading to fibre and BT have released the names of 66 new exchanges that will also be included. Some of these new exchanges will be upgraded by the end of this year but most will be being done during 2012.
By the end of the roll out BT are aiming to have covered two thirds of UK homes with fibre by 2015, the majority are to be connected via FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) which currently offers broadband speeds up to 40Mb although speeds in future should be able to be increased.
Some other interesting facts about BT’s £2.5bn fibre investment are that they are currently passing around 80,000 new premises per week. By the end of the programme they will have installed 30,000 cabinets, connecting 200,000 distribution points and enabled over 1,000 exchanges which will also mean they will need to lay over 50,000km of fibre!
Those wanting to sign up for fibre broadband can do so with BT at BT Infinity (www.bt.com).
The list of the new exchanges are:
INVERKEITHING
ABERDEEN ASHGROVE
ABERDEEN DENBURN
NAIRN
CUMBERNAULD
GLASGOW SCOTSTOUN
SELLY OAK
SUTTON COLDFIELD
BURTON UPON TRENT
LANGLEY MILL
BRISTOL SOUTH
STROUD
ABERDARE
STAFFORD
EUSTON
HOLBORN
KINGS CROSS
EDGBASTON
ERDINGTON
TILE HILL
NORWICH
DERBY
WILLOWCROFT
MORECAMBE
CHILDWALL
CRESSINGTON PARK
SEFTON PARK
STONEYCROFT
WATERLOO
BROUGHTON, GREATER MANCHESTER
DROYLSDEN
RADCLIFFE
WOODLEY, GREATER MANCHESTER
BRIDLINGTON
BRIGHOUSE
CLECKHEATON
HAREHILLS
HORSFORTH
MELROSEGATE
SKIPTON
FOLKESTONE
HASTINGS
WESTGATE
NEWCASTLE WEST
EASTBOURNE
BRIGHTON KEMPTOWN
ADWICK LE STREET
ARMTHORPE
DONCASTER
DONCASTER NORTH
GREENHILL
INTAKE
LINCOLN
ROSSINGTON
WOODSEATS
WORKSOP
COWLEY
EASTON
BRISTOL REDCLIFFE
BOURNEMOUTH
SOUTHBOURNE
WINTON
WESTBOURNE
LEEK
BRIDGWATER
WELLINGTON
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January 13, 2011
41 market towns across the UK have been added to BT’s list of places that they will roll out their next generation fibre broadband to with broadband speeds up to 40Mb.
 This extra 41 market towns will supply around 300,000 businesses and consumers with the fibre broadband which will be available to them from Spring 2012.
These market towns are on top of the 785 exchanges that BT has already planned that will receive fibre broadband under it’s £2.5 billion fibre broadband roll out scheme over the next few years. They represent around 8 million premises in total which is around half of the total that BT are aiming to have the fibre network rolled out to which when complete should cover around 66% of UK premises.
The majority of BT’s fibre broadband roll-out (BT Infinity) is using FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) which will offer broadband download speeds of up to 40Mb and upload speeds of up to 10Mb. In the future this could be increased to download speeds of 60Mb and upload speeds of 15Mb. FTTC uses fibre optics to deliver the broadband to the street-side cabinet and form there the standard copper wire will be used to transfer the signal the rest of the distance to the house.
A few places will receive full FTTH/P (Fibre To The Home/Premises) where along with the fibre optic cable taking the broadband to the cabinet there will also be a fibre optic cable taking the data the distance form the exchange to the premises too and will mean broadband speeds up to 100Mb.
The 41 market towns added to the list are as follow:
Alfreton
Baldock
Bathgate
Billinge
Bishop auckland
Blandford
Dalkeith
Dartmouth
Dereham
Devizes
Dorking
Edinburgh musselburgh
Epping
Faversham
Filey
Frinton- on-sea
Great dunmow
Halstead
Hungerford
Kidlington
Knutsford
Mirfield
Montrose
Morpeth
Nantwich
Newmarket
Oswestry
Penrith
Pontycymmer
Rainford
Ripley
Royston, south yorkshire
Sandwich
Sheerness
Sheringham
Stocksbridge
Stourport
Wallingford
Wendover
Westbury
Wimborne
We currently have a poll running on if you are happy with your broadband speed, the poll can be found on our broadband speed test page.
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January 4, 2011
BT’s “Race To Infinity” competition came to a close on new years eve and finally we can see which of the 6 lucky towns received the most votes to be selected for an upgrade to fibre optic broadband.
 The competition was originally only going to have 5 selected areas but BT have added an extra one to the list due to the fact each of the selected areas received extremely high levels of votes. All the towns will have their local network upgraded to fibre by early 2012.
In total there was more than 360,000 votes cast across the UK.
The 6 winning tows were:
- Baschurch, Shropshire
- Blewbury, Oxfordshire
- Caxton, Cambridgeshire
- Innerleithen, Scottish Borders
- Madingley, Cambridgeshire
- Whitchurch, Hampshire
Those areas that did not win though may have at least put their area on the map for BT to consider in the future by showing a demand for the BT Infinity network to be deployed there. Some of the areas this may include are Marton in Warwickshire, Capel in Surrey, Burley in Wharfedale in Bradford and Lindfield in West Sussex. All these areas just missed out getting into the top 6
The BT Infinity network will offer users a FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) fibre broadband connection which will offer download speeds of up to 40Mb and upload speeds up to 10Mb.
Chris Whatmore who was one of the campaign co-ordinators for the Blewbury exchange said:
“Everyone in our five local villages deserves a pat on the back. The highlights for me have been working with some great people, getting a vote from our oldest resident, who’s 101, and leaping into the number one position the moment we hit 1,000 votes.
Quite a few of us were involved in a previous broadband campaign, so we were familiar with the issues and had a number of ready-made contacts who we knew would be supportive. It seemed a natural thing for this core team to start the ball rolling. With proper, future-proof broadband, Blewbury can attract people or businesses that need and depend on high-speed data connectivity.”
BT are investing £2.5 billion in their fibre optic network over the next few years and plans on having it available to two thirds of the UK by 2015.
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November 16, 2010
BT’s Race To Infinity campaign has seen the first 2 exchanges reach 1000 votes to put them in the lead to be one of 5 places that are to receive BT fibre broadband installed to.
The towns of Caxton in Cambridgeshire and Malvern in Worcestershire are the first two places that have passed the 1,000 minimum vote required target but there is still around a month and half of the campaign still to run so other areas still have plenty fo time to get their vote sin for their locations.
Clayton Hudson from Cambourne paris council said:
“We’re over the moon that we are currently leading the race. There has been a phenomenal response both here in Cambourne and the smaller villages that feed the Caxton exchange and we are determined to be in the top five at the end of the year.“
There has so far been over 200,000 votes cast in the Race To Infinity campaign which covers the UK from top to bottom and it is due to continue until 31st December 2010.
The 5 areas that are selected by winning the competition will have their exchanges upgraded to fibre optics by early 2012, most likely with a FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) connection which would offer fibre broadband speeds up to 40Mb.
BT are already investing £2.5 bn on their fibre network which should cover 66% of the UK by 2015, by the end of this year there should be around 4 million premises that are able to connect to the new next generation network.
To register a vote for where you live you simply need to visit: www.racetoinfinity.bt.com
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November 11, 2010
BT’s latest results show that their fibre broadband network (BT Infinity) has passed 3 million premises yet currently only around 40,000 customers have signed up to the next generation broadband service.
The figure of around 40,000 customers signed up to BT’s own BT Infinity product doesn’t take into account people who are signed up through other broadband providers who use BT’s fibre network. Currently BT Infinity orders are adding around 4,000 new customers to the fibre broadband network each week.
By 2015 BT are aiming to have 2 thirds of UK homes covered by it’s fibre broadband network which will offer broadband speeds up to 40Mb for the majority of customers who will be connected via FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet). Over this period BT are investing £2.5 billion in this new next generation network which will also for the lucky few who will be connected by FTTH (Fibre To The Home) be able to sign up to their up to 110Mb fibre broadband service next March!
On standard broadband additions BT managed to take an impressive 45% of all new broadband additions in the second quarter, which in real terms was around 114,000 new customers which took their total broadband customer base to 5.34 million.
Ian Livingston, the Chief Executive for BT said:
“We have made significant progress in improving profitability and cash flow, enabling us to invest in building the foundations for revenue growth in 2012/13.
We have increased our EBITDA outlook for the year and now expect to hit our £2bn free cash flow target two years early.
Global Services order intake was up 50% at £2.1bn. Our fibre roll out has passed three million premises and BT Infinity orders are now running at over 4,000 per week. BT Vision customers now stand at more than half a million, with more developments planned to enhance our offering. Our share of DSL broadband net additions was 45%, one of our highest shares ever.”
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October 4, 2010
BT are launching a new campaign called the “Race to Infinity” where rural communities can register their demand for fibre broadband.
The nationwide competition allows people to register their interest in wanting fibre broadband in their community and the top 5 voted places with the highest interest will receive fibre broadband by early 2012.
The campaign is running from now until the end of the year and will be used to help map out where the demand for next generation fibre optic broadband is greatest so that BT can see where to focus their efforts in deploying their new fibre network.
Not only will the results mean that 5 exchanges jump to the front of the queue for receiving fibre optic broadband but also exchanges and areas that were considered commercially un-viable may well find their way into BT’s plans for future deployment.
Ed Vaizey, the Communications Minister said:
“Whenever I travel around the UK I hear the same message: people want access to superfast broadband in their communities. I warmly welcome any initiative that will lead to private sector investment in fibre networks, and applaud the way BT are engaging consumers to ensure that investment reaches the people who want it the most.“
BT are already investing £2.5 billion in their next generation fibre network which will see fibre broadband available to 4 million premises by the end of 2010 and another 12 million premises by 2015.
One slight downside is for towns or villages that are on exchanges that have less than 1,000 premises as the minimum number of votes required is 1,000 before they can be considered for the competition. This is a downside for those areas where this competition could really make a huge difference, that said providing they do show a healthy demand then it could see them added to the list of future areas to look at enabling where previously they may have been classed as commercially un-viable.
For some people the site could provide good news already when you cast your vote and inform you that you are already in an area where BT Infinity is going to be deployed!
BT’s own fibre optic broadband product is called “BT Infinity” which would also explain why the competition was given the name that it was.
To register your interest for your town/village on the “Race To Infinity” visit www.racetoinfinity.bt.com
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September 21, 2010
BT customers who are on a bundled broadband and calls package will be offered a free upgrade to the new fibre network (BT Infinity – www.bt.com) when it becomes available in their area.
The free upgrade for BT customers is available to those on the Option 2 or Option 3 packages with those on the Option 1 having a small additional monthly charge.
 Those who take out the BT Infinity Option 1 plan which also includes unlimited weekend calls plus up to 40Mb download speeds and 2Mb uploads speeds and a 40GB usage limit, for the first three months will pay just £7.49 per month before the bundle reverts to it’s standard price of £17.99 per month plus the cost of line rental and a one off Infinity activation charge of £25.
The BT Infinity Option 2 offers unlimited broadband usage, up to 40Mb download and 10Mb upload speeds plus unlimited calls for a special offer price of £19.99 per month for the first 3 months and then £27.99 per month plus the line rental charges. There is no activation or line installation charges.
BT say that as they don’t charge for new line installation then customers are making a saving of £39 compared to Sky for this and £69.99 compared with TalkTalk.
The managing director of BT’s Consumer division, John Petter said:
“Fibre is the future of broadband and BT is raising the speed and standard for customers nationwide. BT Infinity is head and shoulders above other services when it comes to value. We are the only company offering you an upgrade to fibre for no extra monthly cost and the only company to offer free line installation across all new bundles.“
BT are investing £2.5 billion in their new fibre network which they are calling BT Infinity and aim to have around two thirds coverage of the UK by 2015. Most of the network will be offering customers Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) which will offer broadband speeds up to 40Mb, a few lucky people will receive full Fibre To The Home/Premises (FTTH) which will be able to offer broadband speeds up to 100Mb.
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May 14, 2010
We reported at the start of this week about BT extending the roll out of it’s fibre optic network to two-thirds of the UK up from the 40% it originally planned and this has been confirmed yesterday by BT as they had a press conference releasing their annual figures.
 The increased roll out has come with an extra £1 billion of funding being pumped into the fibre network, originally BT were going to spend £1.5 bn but yesterday said that this is now going to be £2.5 bn and should have the 66% coverage by 2015.
Last year (to the end of March 2010) BT made a £1bn profit, with is a huge increase on the previous year where they actually made a £244 million loss.
BT’s fibre network is mainly going to be FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) that will offer broadband speeds up to 40Mb, BT themselves will be offering customers fibre broadband on it’s service they have named BT Infinity or they will be other broadband providers who will use BT’s fibre network to offer their own fibre broadband services.
This news will no doubt be a blow to BT’s main rivals Virgin Media, who currently have 55% coverage of the UK with their own fibre broadband network where they offer a headline speed of 50Mb broadband. The increased rivalry between the two companies should hopefully be good news for consumers though as each company fights to win over customers, hopefully meaning cheaper fibre broadband for us.
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May 11, 2010
BT are to increase the number of homes that will be able to receive it’s fibre optic broadband when they announce their annual results later this week.
BT had originally planned on having 40% of the UK, or around 10 million homes to be connected to the new superfast next-generation fibre optic broadband network by the Summer 2012 at a cost of around £1.5 bn, this date had been pushed forward from the original date of 2013 but we expect to hear that this figure has now been increased to 66% of the UK (around 16.5 million homes) although we don’t know if this is on an extended time scale or if it will still be within the original planned dates.
BT do not release their annual results until Thursday this week and and not commented on the speculation that this is what is actually happening, but it has been reported by a number of sources and so it is likely to be the news we expect to hear on Thursday.
BT’s fibre based broadband network for the majority of people on it will be done via FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) that will offer broadband speeds up to 40Mb with the chance for the speed to increase in the future. FTTC provides Fibre optic cable to the street side cabinet and then uses the existing copper cables to take the broadband form the cabinet to the premises. Fibre to the Premises is the ideal fibre network but the costs would be substantially more for this to be implemented.
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