British Telecom has today announced that an extra one and a half million extra UK households and businesses will get super-fast broadband by 2012.
The move will see a mix of FTTP (Fibre to the premises) and FTTC (Fibre to the cabinet) fibre optic connections installed throughout the UK.
BT’s initial plan was to rollout the FTTP super-fast broadband, which can provide speeds up to 100Mbps to a million premises, but has now found that it can provide this to an additional two and a half million because the rollout is proving cheaper than expected.
The FTTC system which provides the fibre optic connection as far as the green box on your street, will provide speeds of up to 40Mbps for up to nine million households and businesses.
BT’s spin-off Openreach, who are installing the new fibre system say that Bradwell Abbey in Milton Keynes and Highams Park in London will be the first places to get the super-fast FTTP system installed. They anticipate the system will be available to 20,000 households and businesses by March 2010.
It still seems likely though that most of the FTTP connections will go to new homes and be installed before they are completed. Existing households will probably not benefit from this system, at least not in the short-term.
The move is bound to be welcomed by UK homes and businesses, many of whom still do not have broadband at all. The UK government has promised to deliver a minimum of 2Mbps broadband to every home and business in the country by 2012, but this is still leagues behind some other countries.
In a recent study, reported here on Connected Internet, the UK came a poor 25th out of 66 countries for the availability and speed of its broadband connections.
