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BT set to expand fibre rollout

By Barry Collins

Posted on 10 May 2010 at 14:00

BT will this week announce plans to extend its fibre broadband rollout to two thirds of the country, according to reports.

The company is currently committed to a £1.5bn fibre network that will reach 10 million premises by 2012, which equates to roughly 40% of the country.

A report in the Financial Times claims that BT will increase that figure to 66%, when the company announces its full-year results on Thursday.

BT told PC Pro that it doesn't comment on rumour or speculation.

The expanded network would obviously require increased investment from cash-strapped BT, which is being weighed down by its Global Services division and a huge pensions deficit.

However, BT is reportedly confident that increased investment will tempt rivals such as Sky and Carphone Warehouse to buy fibre lines from BT on a wholesale basis, rather than commit to an expensive fibre rollout of their own.

BT is also looking to ramp up its IPTV service, BT Vision, which was one of the beneficiaries of a recent Ofcom ruling that forces Sky to offer its Sports channels to rival broadcasters at a cheaper rate than it does presently.

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User comments

Great.... but

All I want to know is when does it roll past my house.

Getting impatient here with 2mbps

By DaChimp on 10 May 2010

Count yourself lucky to have 2Mbps! At peak times ours crawls at 512Kbit at best, sometimes even slower. Very quiet times we did once hit almost 1Mbit when running speedtest.

By skarlock on 10 May 2010

I feel for those that have 512kbps. I am fortunate enought to get 5mbps. And believe it or not - that's all I need. I play games, I download software. I stream video. For me 5mbps is fine. So I don't understand the constant need for greater bandwidth. It's become like a power thing. A need for something that really is not required in many cases.

By drummerbod on 10 May 2010

The same was said about the need for faster computers. We might not have seen at the time a need for speed, but now we have it we have new uses for hardware and also appreciate the improved user experience from faster machines. I'm certain the same will be true for broadband, although 5Mbit seems to be all you need now, a few years from now that could change, html 5 for example might introduce very high bandwidth websites. Multiple machines in a single home accessing the net will also chew it up, the net after all could offer far more bandwidth for streaming media than either satellite or over the air can.

By skarlock on 10 May 2010

10Mbps min

My ADSL2+ service for over a year at an average speed of 17MBps.
So used to this now, Its changed the way I use the internet. Ive ditched the TV as I now watch programs On-Line via streaming video. I have dual 24" monitor setup and can stream without any buffering two TV programs at once form the i-player / seasaw/4OD etc.
Soon We will be able to stream direct from Hulu / fancast / abc / fox/ cbs etc. without 'bouncing'.

Anyhow, what Im trying to say is that we very quickly get used to the speed and can never go back, yes I still desire a even faster connection.
One day soon we will be able to stream 3d video direct from the broadcaster via the net.

Lets hope broadband speeds increase as fast as processor speeds have.

Tips for getting the best speed from your ADSL ISP.

Snip your redundant bell wire to reduce static interference (Bing/Google for details)

If available use IPS's that are unbundled for best speeds.

Make sure your using ADSL2+ kit.

Keep harassing your ISP and demand they tweak your broadband. Push them very very hard (they can increase your speed 10-30% if they are forced too).

Ive hassled my IPS so much that they have my number on a priority response, so I never wait longer that 5 rings before I get though to a person.

who else on talktalk get this special treatment that should be standard service for everyone?