BT extends 100Mbps fibre rollout

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BT is more than doubling the number of homes reached by its fibre to the premise (FTTP) broadband, which has the potential to deliver speeds of up to 100Mbps.

Initially, the company had promised to deploy this technology to one million homes, alongside its fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband plans, as part of its £1.5 billion investment to bring high speed broadband to 10 million homes by 2012.

Now, BT has said it is “commercially ahead of target” so more of its budget can go towards FTTP. It has claimed the connections will be available to 1.5 million homes by next summer and will reach almost 2.5 million by the 2012 target.

Steve Robertson, chief executive of Openreach at BT, said in a statement: “Service providers have asked us for more FTTP and so we have listened to them.”

“The UK already leads the world when it comes to broadband availability and today’s announcement will help the UK climb the speed league tables as well. The UK is well placed but we need to invest for the future so that customers can access the rich applications that will be popular in a few years time.”

The first trials of FTTP will take place in Bradwell Abbey in Milton Keynes and Highams Park, London. Up to 20,000 homes and businesses in each location will receive the high speed connection by March 2010.

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