29
October
2013
|
23:00
Europe/London

BT shows Rosie Winterton, MP, new fibre network in Doncaste

More than 84,500 local homes and businesses can now benefit from BT’s £2.5 billion roll-out; local communities encouraged to get connected 

BT today demonstrated the technology behind its roll out of super-fast fibre broadband in Doncaster to local MP Rosie Winterton.

The MP for Doncaster Central visited one of BT’s live fibre broadband street cabinets on St Mary’s Road to find out for herself how the technology works and why it’s essential for future success and prosperity.

She urged local people to reap the benefits of the company’s major investment in high-speed fibre broadband throughout the town.

More than 91,000 homes and businesses in the Doncaster area are now able to join the high-speed revolution. By the end of next year around 110,000 local homes and businesses will be able to benefit from BT’s £2.5 billion fibre broadband roll-out programme.

The new network is available on an open, wholesale basis to all companies offering broadband services.

Rosie Winterton, MP, said: “Super-fast broadband is an essential tool for businesses, and a useful tool for homes. This investment by BT will allow firms in the area to expand and develop, creating investment and opportunities, and open up this exciting technology to thousands of people across Doncaster.”

Research carried out for BT by Regeneris Consulting suggests that in the next 15 years super-fast broadband could give the economy of a typical city a £296 million boost, create around 430 new jobs and 320 new start-up businesses, whilst for a typical town the figures are expected to be £143 million, 225 new jobs and 140 business start-ups1.

Tom Keeney, BT’s regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “We’re very pleased that Rosie has been able to come and explore the inner workings of our roll-out of fibre broadband today. Local people may have noticed our green street cabinets being installed around the town. This everyday street furniture is where the magic happens.


“Fibre broadband opens up a whole new world to internet users. Local will be able to access new job opportunities, and shop around for cheaper services. Fibre is transforming the way we use the internet at as more than a million UK households and businesses have already discovered.”

BT’s fibre footprint currently passes more than 16 million UK homes and businesses. It is expanding all the time and is now due to pass two-thirds of UK premises – around 19 million premises – during Spring 2014, at least 18 months ahead of the original timetable. 2

Openreach, BT’s local network business, is primarily deploying fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology, where the fibre runs from the exchange to a local roadside cabinet. FTTC offers download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps3 and could deliver even faster speeds in the future.

Openreach has also started to make fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology - where the fibre runs all the way to the home or business - commercially available on demand3 in areas where fibre broadband has been deployed. FTTP-on-demand will offer the top current download speed of 330Mbps4. According to the regulator Ofcom, the current average UK broadband speed is 14.7Mbps.

At home, fibre broadband enables a family to simultaneously download a movie, watch a TV replay service, surf the internet and play games online all at the same time. A whole album can be downloaded in less than 30 seconds and a feature length HD movie in less than 10 minutes, whilst high-resolution photos can be uploaded to Facebook in seconds.

For further information on Openreach’s fibre broadband programme visit www.superfast-openreach.co.uk

ENDS

Notes to editors
1 Research taken from Social Study 2012 – The Economic Impact of BT across the UK by Regeneris Consulting – see www.btsocialstudy.co.uk for more information.
2 BT’s deployment plans are subject to an acceptable environment for investment.
3 These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
4 Openreach will levy an installation charge for FTTP on demand. It will be up to service providers to decide whether they pass that on to businesses or consumers wishing to use the product.

Due to the current network topography, and the economics of deployment, it is likely that some premises within selected exchange areas will not initially be able to access fibre-based broadband. Openreach is considering alternative solutions for these locations.