December 14, 2011
UK consumers are slow on the take up of superfast broadband according to Ofcom who have released their annual Communications Market Report.
Ofcom say that around 59% of the country has access to superfast broadband via either Virgin Media’s cable broadband or BT’s new fibre broadband network, yet despite this only 4% of households have taken up the superfast broadband option (as of June 2011) with most staying put on standard cheaper broadband deals. Ofcom rate superfast broadband speeds as broadband that is faster than 24Mb, this takes out ADSL2+ as users won’t be able to receive faster that the theoretical maximum that is offered by this.
The likely reason to this is the cost element. With the average broadband speed consumers in the UK receive coming in at 6.8Mb it is highly likely for many people (especially in these financially unstable times) that the broadband connection they currently have is more than sufficient for what they need for everyday use without needing to upgrade to more expensive yet much faster fibre broadband. For many the time to jump to fibre broadband will be when the applications and internet use they need requires faster broadband or that the cost of fibre broadband comes down to a level closer to what they are currently paying.
For the average Internet user currently most internet applications such as video streaming and general surfing perform well enough with the average broadband speeds we receive, however, going forward with more applications and more usage this could soon start to mean faster speeds are needed and will be when it becomes more of a need and requirement to upgrade to fibre.
Another reason might be because there hadn’t been too much advertising of fibre broadband services too, so consumers are unaware of what is available to them, especially as many broadband providers such as Sky have yet to start offering fibre broadband.
Fibre broadband take up in Japan is at 40% with 10% in America, Germany is slightly less with just 3%, Spain 2.2% and Italy 1.5%.
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December 12, 2011
BT Openreach have announced a further 178 exchanges that to be upgraded to its fibre broadband technology.
 The extra exchanges that have been listed will cover around 1.8 million homes and businesses with most of them being connected with FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) with most of them hopefully being connected during 2012.
Currently there are around 6 million premises in the UK that have access to fibre broadband via BT’s “BT Infinity” network and once all the exchanges on the current list and these new exchanges have all been enabled it will see BT having hit 80% of their target coverage of two thirds coverage across the UK by 2014.
BT have already brought forward the date by a year for when they hope to achieve their two thirds coverage by and along with this they also announced not long ago (read here) that they will be doubling their main 40Mb fibre broadband product to 80Mb next year too.
BT’s headline full fibre product (limited availability) will also be increased from 110Mb to a whopping 300Mb in early 2012 too, this is a huge difference that the current average broadband speed test result of 6.8Mb that the UK currently has. Unfortunately most of the UK will be connected by FTTC (the current 40Mb one) and not the full FTTH (Fibre To The Home) that will see the up to 300Mb speeds.
Although BT are investing £2.5bn in their fibre network to cover two thirds of the UK, they do believe that with extra investment and funding that around 90% of the UK could be covered with fibre broadband. This requires some of the money from the BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK) scheme to help BT roll out fibre that bit further.
The full list of the 178 exchanges that BT have announced can be viewed at www.btplc.com.
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December 9, 2011
90% of the UK should have fibre broadband connections in 5 to 6 years according to BT’s main man.
David Cameron visited BT’s Adastral Park research HQ near to Ipswich where they were told by BT’s Chief Executive, Ian Livingstone, that fibre optic broadband could be available to 90% of homes and businesses within 5 to 6 years.
BT are currently aiming to have two thirds of the country connected to its fibre network in just 3 years time (by the end of 2014). However, the final push will be a time consuming and expensive for BT hence why it could be up to 6 years before there is 90% coverage with fibre broadband.
BT are investing £2.5bn in its fibre network to upgrade from copper wires to fibre optic cable. The majority of connections people will receive will be FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) as apposed to full fibre to the premises (FTTP). FTTC has fibre optics being used from the main exchange to the streetside cabinets and then the standard copper cable to go from the cabinet to peoples premises, only a small number will receive full fibre to the cabinet and then fibre form the cabinet to their premises, although this offers far greater speeds it is also far more costly to do.
Other funding for fibre comes from the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme that sees around £530m from the government to help fund rural broadband schemes where it is not as financially viable for the likes of BT or Virgin Media to deploy their improved services.
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November 30, 2011
10 UK cities are to receive £100m between them to help boost broadband coverage in them.
The initial 4 cities chosen are the capitals of all 4 nations, London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff with the further 6 cities to benefit still to be announced (The Telegraph printed that Milton Keynes and Bristol are 2 likely candidates).
The governments aim is to have some of the UK cities as a hub for super-fast broadband with broadband speeds of between 80-100Mb, along with city wide high speed mobile connectivity.
The areas that are likely to be chosen are those parts of the cities where the likes of BT and Virgin Media were unlikely to roll out fibre broadband to without subsidy to make it financially viable for them.
As with other broadband projects that take money from the BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK) pot of funding, the companies who bid for projects (BT & Virgin Media being the main ones) are expected to at least match any funding that the government puts in. The first £20m is to be allocated in the year to April 2013 with £60m the following year and then the final £20m by April 2015.
Some people think that the money would be better spent helping to fund rural broadband, with cities already having broadband connections available you may find that rural communities and business would benefit more, some will see this as another case of a digital divide between the cities and rural communities.
George Osborne, the UK Chancellor, who announced the funding said:
“It means creating new superfast digital networks for companies across our country. These do not exist today. See what countries like China or Brazil are building, and you’ll also see why we risk falling behind the rest of the world.
Our great cities are at the heart of our regional economies. And we will help bring world leading, superfast broadband and Wi-Fi connections to 10 of them – including the capitals of all four nations.”
BT are continuing their roll out of fibre broadband across the UK and are still aiming to have two thirds of the country connected by the end of 2014.
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November 23, 2011
£5 million of public funding has been allocated to help roll out superfast broadband to Southern Scotland.
The Borders Council and Dunfries and Galloway Council have been allocated the funds to help roll out the superfast broadband with a target of having all homes and businesses connected to superfast broadband by 2020.
Despite BT rolling out their fibre network to around two thirds of the UK by 2015 it would only be around 35% of Southern Scotland that would be covered by this rollout.
Scotland was given nearly £69 million from the BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK) fund earlier in the year with the Scottish Government having increased this to around £144 million, it is out of this pot of money that this £5m has been taken.
It is hoped that further private investment and funding will also be found now from other sources now this initial funding has been granted.
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November 2, 2011
Fixed line broadband customers in the UK are using on average 17Gb of data per month according to figures released today by Ofcom.
The demand for data has grown considerably the last few years, and with ever increasing broadband speeds it is likely to continue to grow into the future. According to data from the London Internet Exchange they have found that demand for data has risen seven fold over the last 5 years.
To put the 17Gb of monthly data use into perspective, it equates to around downloading 11 films per months or streaming 12 hours of BBC iPlayer HD video or more than 12 days of streaming audio content.
This increase in data use is largely possible to the now genuinely unlimited broadband packages that are on the market giving users more freedom to download without the worry of exceeding download limits, however users should be aware that they check what their download limits are on their broadband deals to avoid any problems going forward as not all broadband deals come with unlimited broadband.
With BT’s £2.5bn investment into fibre broadband that will cover two thirds of the UK by 2014 and with speeds on their “slowest” fibre broadband due to be increased to up to 80Mb broadband connections we can only expect that both broadband limits on any broadband plans are increased and that the average monthly use across the UK will also continue to grow.
The Guardian newspaper got figures out of Virgin Media and TalkTalk of their customers average usage. Virgin media said that those customers on 10Mb broadband services used on average 19Gb per month, while those on their 100Mb broadband lines were using around 130Gb per month. TalkTalk said that their average user downloads around 13Gb per months while BT would not give any details.
Mobile broadband data is still quite low in comparison, with on average just 240Mb per connection.
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September 12, 2011
BT are trying to create a fibre monopoly according to the commercial boss of TalkTalk.
David Goldie has claimed that BT is trying to regain “the monopoly position that it lost many years ago” and fears that Britain will be left with a second class infrastructure that falls behind that of other developed nations.
BT are investing £2.5 billion in their fibre network (BT Infinity) which will cover two thirds of the UK by 2015. Most of those connected to it will be via FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) which means that from the streetside cabinet the standard copper wires are used for the rest of the distance to the house. Only around 4 million homes will be connected with full fibre broadband (FTTH) Fibre To The Home which can offer even faster speeds.
BT are bidding for £360m worth of government subsidy to help get fibre into rural areas, however the Japanese electronic giant Fujitsu are also after this money and some more so that they can bring their 1Gbit fibre technology to around 5 million homes in rural Britain over the next 5 years. Fujitsu are after £500m to help fund their £2bn project that has already had promises from Virgin Media & TalkTalk to be customers of the network should Fujitsu manage to get the money to do it as it will help create a competitor edge to BT.
Fujitsu however need BT to lower the prices for access and rent of their telephone ducts and poles so that they can install their own fibre. It is thought that Fujitsu want BT to half it’s prices but this could prove a sticking point.
Goldie also said:
“Right now BT knows what its costs are but nobody else does. I look at it from the point of view of the taxpayer and the market and none of them is well served by having a bidding process that favours one party.”
“BT’s is a mother knows best approach. I don’t think they are building the right infrastructure for Britain.”
The Chief Executive of BT Openreach, Olivia Garfield, said:
“BT has provided reciprocal wholesale access to its fibre network from the outset. This allows other operators to piggyback off our investment, while encouraging competition and the take-up of fibre services to thrive. We’ve also volunteered to provide additional forms of wholesale access via our ducts and poles. We expect to announce revised pricing for such access shortly.”
Looking at the issue from BT’s side they will argue that they are already investing £2.5bn into rolling out fibre across the country and also need to make a return on their investment.
It is likely that Ofcom will be the ones who have to come in to help make agreement on both sides.
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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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April 12, 2011
Superfast broadband lines are set to pass 250,000 this month according to Point-Topic.com.
Superfast broadband speeds are classed as those that are in excess of 25Mb and are most likely delivered via fibre broadband.
The quarter of a million is actually an estimate based on detailed figures that Point-Topic had for the end of 2010. At that time it showed that there were 175,000 superfast broadband lines in use with 118,000 of them with Virgin Media customers, 54,000 on the BT network and around 3,000 on alternative networks.
The estimate was that going forward that these figures would reach 236,000 superfast broadband lines by the end of March and meant that in April the quarter of a million lines would be reached.
The figure still represents only 1% of UK homes which is not very many, but with fibre broadband becoming increasingly popular, added to the fact BT are investing heavily in their own fibre network to roll out to around two thirds of the UK the number of superfast lines is expected to continue on an increasing upward trend.
Virgin Media cable customers are using DOCSIS 3 with customers able to sign up to their 50Mb broadband and new 100Mb broadband packages. BT are still in the early stages of rolling out their BT Infinity network which for the majority of homes will be via FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) that will offer broadband speeds up to 40Mb with the fibre being used to the local street-side cabinet and then VDSL (Very High Speed DSL) being used for the last few hundred meters to the home, the lucky few will be put on the FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) which will let them sign up to BT’s headline 110Mb broadband package.
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March 29, 2011
Plusnet are launching fibre broadband with prices starting at just £16.49 per month.
Plusnet (www.plus.net) are launching “Value Fibre” and “Extra Fibre” broadband packages which will be available form the 19th April 2011. The cheapest fibre broadband package, the “Value Fibre” will offer broadband speeds up to 40Mb with a 40GB usage limit at a cost of £16.49 per month, the “Extra Fibre” package will also offer up to 40Mb broadband speeds but will have 120GB available usage and will cost £21.49 per month (both packages cost £10 more than their respective standard broadband deal).
Also supplied is a new wireless router (£4.99 delivery charge) and installation and activation are free when the fibre broadband is taken with a Home Phone package otherwise a charge of £50 will be charged.
Those signing up to Plusnet Fibre broadband will also be subject to an 18 month contract as standard. Although bother BT Infinity and Virgin Media have introductory offers which have cheaper fibre broadband for an limited period this deal from Plusnet is currently the only sub £200 fibre broadband deal on the market.
Plusnet (who are owned by BT) will be using BT’s fibre network to deliver their fibre optic broadband. This network is mainly being offered as a FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) service which requires copper wires to transmit the data the last part of the journey from the cabinet to the home, BT’s network is aiming to cover 66% of the UK by 2015.
Anyone wanting to sign up for Plusnet Fibre broadband can do so by visiting www.plus.net.
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