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BT Infinity will run where the public most wants it
05 Oct 2010 | 15.09 Europe/London
BT is inviting the UK population to tell it where to lay most of its proposed 40Mbp/s fibre network.
By 2015 the company claims its £2.5bn investment in fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) will make the 40Mbp/s service available to 15m homes. It is expected that nearly all of these will be in large towns and cities but, according to BT, only 7m households are currently accounted for. That leaves, in theory, 10m homes which the telco will identify based on public feedback.
The top five locations where there is the highest demand for fibre services will then get fibre run through their areas during 2011 and 2012.
However, given that BT has ruled out putting fibre in to the ‘final third’ of the country where it believes the cost would outweigh the gain, without public subsidy, it may not be too surprising to hear that interest in fibre will favour larger rural or suburban areas.
The five areas chosen will need to have more than 1000 people registering an interest in fibre and they will also be judged by the proportion of the homes served by each exchange.
This is being widely considered as a move to ensure small, rural exchanges, which would struggle to raise more than 1000 registered parties, are not considered for the competition.
Residents can show their interest in BT Infinity at www.bt.com/infinity through a line availability checker.
By 2015 the company claims its £2.5bn investment in fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) will make the 40Mbp/s service available to 15m homes. It is expected that nearly all of these will be in large towns and cities but, according to BT, only 7m households are currently accounted for. That leaves, in theory, 10m homes which the telco will identify based on public feedback.
The top five locations where there is the highest demand for fibre services will then get fibre run through their areas during 2011 and 2012.
However, given that BT has ruled out putting fibre in to the ‘final third’ of the country where it believes the cost would outweigh the gain, without public subsidy, it may not be too surprising to hear that interest in fibre will favour larger rural or suburban areas.
The five areas chosen will need to have more than 1000 people registering an interest in fibre and they will also be judged by the proportion of the homes served by each exchange.
This is being widely considered as a move to ensure small, rural exchanges, which would struggle to raise more than 1000 registered parties, are not considered for the competition.
Residents can show their interest in BT Infinity at www.bt.com/infinity through a line availability checker.