Partner Article

45,000 join the super-fast lane

BT announced yesterday that a further 45,000 homes and businesses in the North East are to benefit from its £1.5bn plans for super-fast broadband.

The news signals the biggest phase of the UK–wide project to date with a further four exchanges to be upgraded in the North East between autumn 2010 and summer 2011.

This latest phase builds on the 50,000 North East lines due to be upgraded by this summer, which have already been announced – and will take the total number of super-fast fibre-based lines in the region to around 95,000.

Across the UK, more than 300 new super-fast broadband locations are announced today. The technology will be available on an open, wholesale basis to all companies providing broadband services.

It is the latest chapter in BT’s longer-term programme to make super-fast fibre-based broadband available to at least 40 per cent of the UK – or some 10 million homes – by summer 2012.

Four million premises will have been connected by the end of 2010 in the largest single commercial investment in fibre-based broadband ever undertaken in the UK.

Super-fast broadband offers much faster download speeds of up to 40Mb/s, potentially rising to 60Mb/s, and upstream speeds of 10Mb/s, with the chance of rising to 15Mb/s giving customers greater flexibility in how they use the internet including much easier uploads of photos and videos.

These speeds also offer businesses major advantages, including new services and more sophisticated communications, such as high-quality videoconferencing.

BT’s fibre plans build on existing initiatives such as its pioneering 21st Century Network (21CN), which has already placed faster speeds within reach of more than half of UK homes using the existing copper network.

Chris Sayers, BT’s North East regional director, said: “Our major investment in super-fast fibre-based broadband combined with the roll-out of BT’s 21st Century Network is giving this region the sophisticated technology to help it prosper in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .