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BT Race to Infinity leaders announced
17 Nov 2010 | 13.17 Europe/London
Caxton in Cambridgeshire and Malvern in Worcester are the current front-runners in BT’s Race to Infinity competition.
BT has announced that the two towns were the first to reach more than 1000 entries in to the race which is designed to allow, through online registrations of interest, where BT should roll its Infinity fibre service. In all, 200,000 votes have so far been cast online across the country and the competition runs until the end of the year.
The telco announced earlier this month that it has now run fibre past 3m homes and is due to reach the 4m mark by the end of the year. By the end of 2015, BT aims to have 15m homes connected to fibre.
The Race to Infinity is designed to allow areas to demonstrate pent up demand to BT so they can be part of the FTTC roll out.
The online competition has been criticised by rural broadband campaigners who believe it will do nothing to bring fibre to the ‘final third’ of the country because the rules stipulate at least 1000 votes are required for each exchange, leaving smaller communities ineligible.
Indeed, the latest BT announcement reiterated its belief that the final third will only be included in FTTC plans if public money is forthcoming. However, the company is promising ‘to engage’ with any community where more than three in four of the exchange’s homes register an interest in BT Infinity.
BT has announced that the two towns were the first to reach more than 1000 entries in to the race which is designed to allow, through online registrations of interest, where BT should roll its Infinity fibre service. In all, 200,000 votes have so far been cast online across the country and the competition runs until the end of the year.
The telco announced earlier this month that it has now run fibre past 3m homes and is due to reach the 4m mark by the end of the year. By the end of 2015, BT aims to have 15m homes connected to fibre.
The Race to Infinity is designed to allow areas to demonstrate pent up demand to BT so they can be part of the FTTC roll out.
The online competition has been criticised by rural broadband campaigners who believe it will do nothing to bring fibre to the ‘final third’ of the country because the rules stipulate at least 1000 votes are required for each exchange, leaving smaller communities ineligible.
Indeed, the latest BT announcement reiterated its belief that the final third will only be included in FTTC plans if public money is forthcoming. However, the company is promising ‘to engage’ with any community where more than three in four of the exchange’s homes register an interest in BT Infinity.