BT's Broadband-ometer bears fruit

By Alun Williams

Posted on 22 Oct 2002 at 13:22

BT's much-criticised Broadband Registration scheme has borne fruit - 10 exchanges are now to be DSL-enabled.

The first 10 exchanges to emerge from BT's registration system are Todmorden, Penn, Irby, Ponteland, Twyford, Pembury, Paddock Wood, Kesgrave, Leek, and Bishops Waltham.

Enough residents have expressed - and then confirmed - an interest in these levels for their local Broadband-ometer to reach the required trigger level. For all 10 exchanges the trigger level was 200 - this is the amount deemed by BT to make the process economically worthwhile.

The BT engineers are now moving in to the exchanges and a broadband service will emerge in November.

Another six local exchanges - Irby on the Wirrall, Paddock Wood and Pembury in Kent, Penn in Buckinghamshire, Ponteland in Northumberland and Twyford in Berkshire - are also in line for an upgrade after sufficient demand was confirmed by ISPs. These exchanges are expected to go live in December.

BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen has acknowledged the role pressure groups have played in drumming up interest in local areas. 'It's terrific that customers have come together in campaign groups to drive demand in their areas,' he said. 'We can now identify with confidence where to invest next to give businesses and consumers fast, always on broadband Internet services.'

'People in these areas put themselves in the vanguard of the movement to be the next to get ADSL broadband,' he added. 'BT is now pulling out all the stops to match their enthusiasm and deliver the broadband connections they've asked for'.

The registration scheme, and its Web site has been criticised for its tortuous nature. First you have to register an interest in broadband in your area. Then you have to register that interest with a particular ISP. And then - when enough expressions of interest have been reported back to BT by the ISPs - BT may proceeded to upgrade the local exchange... if the original registrations are then re-confirmed.

BT states 160,000 customer registrations have been logged since the scheme began in July. Users, however, have been frustrated that initial registrations of interests are not immediately reflected on the broadband-ometer - totals are updated when BT processes the collection of registrations recorded by ISPs.

A BT spokesperson emphasised that the confirmation process is now speeding up. Whereas it took six weeks to firm up the Todmorden demand, the validation for Bishops Waltham started only a couple of weeks ago. This was attributed to ISPs themselves getting used to the process.