Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/04/07/bt_fibre_rollout_156_exchanges/
BT reveals fibre-to-the-cabinet plans for 156 exchanges
Not so superfast, laddy
Posted in Networks, 7th April 2011 12:23 GMT
BT has earmarked 156 more exchanges for its ongoing rollout of faster broadband, none of which will benefit from the company's 100Mbit/s downstream service.
The fibre upgrade, which this time mainly targets areas in Yorkshire, the Midlands and Greater Manchester, will be carried out by the telecom giant's Openreach division over the next 20 months.
However, BT said only around 50 of those exchanges will be fully upgraded by the end of this summer.
Others won't be enabled for fibre broadband until the end of 2011, while an unspecified number of exchanges won't be offering the service until the end of 2012.
"To assist communications providers with their planning, Openreach will provide industry with a more specific date for the enablement of each exchange six months prior to an exchange being upgraded to fibre broadband," said BT.
BT has divvied up £2.5bn to deliver fibre broadband to two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2015.
All of the latest upgrades will involve engineers laying fibre from the exchange buildings to a new generation of street-side cabinets offering VDSL2+.
Those cabinets, which have already attracted some controversy when installed in local areas, will connect to homes and businesses via existing copper and aluminium wiring. Such tech is theoretically capable of 40Mbit/s downstream, but fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) services are expected to offer between 10 and 20Mbit/s.
Some exchanges in previous lists issued by BT are to be upgraded to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), completely replacing old metal lines. Customers connected to them will receive about 100Mbit/s downstream.
The firm said that 10 exchange areas that won its "Race to Infinity" broadband upgrade competition were included in BT's latest fibre rollout list.
BT launched the competition in early October, offering small towns and villages nationwide the chance to win a fibre upgrade for their local exchange.
Any community overlooked by the company's commercial improvement programme was eligible to compete. BT customers registered their interest in faster broadband on a website created specifically for the comp.
BT said at the time it was committed to upgrading the five exchanges connected to the highest proportion of interested households (each must also have registered at least 1,000 households).
“Our fibre programme is well underway with more than four million premises now able to order a fibre-based broadband service from their chosen supplier. And today we’re announcing a new set of locations serving a further 1.5 million premises, many of which will be able to enjoy the benefits of super-fast upload and download speeds from as early as this Summer," said BT's Openreach managing director of next-gen access David Campbell.
"We'll continue to work closely with industry and local and devolved authorities around the country in deciding where to deploy the technology next.” ®
Page 2 details full list of BT exchanges earmarked for FTTC upgrades...
- ABERKENFIG Wales
- AINSDALE North West
- ASKERN Yorkshire and The Humber
- BALBY Yorkshire and The Humber
- BARNBY DUN Yorkshire and The Humber
- BARNSLEY Yorkshire and The Humber
- BASFORD East Midlands
- BEDLINGTON North East
- BEDWORTH West Midlands
- BEWDLEY West Midlands
- BIDDULPH West Midlands
- BIGGLESWADE East of England
- BINGHAM East Midlands
- BINGLEY Yorkshire and The Humber
- BIRCHWOOD East Midlands
- BITTON South West
- BLACKWOOD Wales
- BLIDWORTH East Midlands
- BOLLINGTON North West
- BOLTON North West
- BRIGHTON PORTSLADE South East
- BROADSTONE South West
- BROMBOROUGH North West
- BUCKLEY Wales
- BURTON LATIMER East Midlands
- CANNOCK West Midlands
- CANTLEY Yorkshire and The Humber
- CARTERTON South East
- CHAPEL BRAMPTON East Midlands
- CHATTERIS East of England
- CHEADLE West Midlands
- CHELLASTON East Midlands
- CLITHEROE North West
- CORBY East Midlands
- COVENT GARDEN London
- COXHOE North East
- CRANLEIGH South East
- CROOK North East
- CROWNHILL South West
- CUDWORTH Yorkshire and The Humber
- DARTON Yorkshire and The Humber
- DAWLEY West Midlands
- DESBOROUGH East Midlands
- DONALDSON Scotland
- DUDLEY HILL Yorkshire and The Humber
- DUNDEE BROUGHTY FERRY Scotland
- DUSTON East Midlands
- EAGLESCLIFFE North East
- EASTHAM North West
- FENCEHOUSES North East
- FERRYHILL North East
- FILTON South West
- FROME South West
- GATESHEAD North East
- GERRARD STREET London
- GLASGOW BUSBY Scotland
- GUISBOROUGH North East
- HARROWDEN East Midlands
- HARTBURN, CLEVELAND North East
- HARTLEPOOL North East
- HAXBY Yorkshire and The Humber
- HEYWOOD North West
- IBSTOCK East Midlands
- ILKLEY Yorkshire and The Humber
- JESMOND North East
- KEMPSTON East of England
- KENFIG HILL Wales
- KENSINGTON GARDENS London
- KNOTTINGLEY Yorkshire and The Humber
- LARK LANE North West
- LETCHWORTH East of England
- LEYLAND North West
- LINTHORPE North East
- LLANRUMNEY Wales
- LYTCHETT MINSTER South West
- MAESGLAS Wales
- MALTON Yorkshire and The Humber
- MALVERN West Midlands
- MARPLE North West
- MARTON, CLEVELAND North East
- MEADOWFIELD North East
- MELKSHAM South West
- MERCURY North West
- MIDDLETON, GREATER MANCHESTER North West
- MOSSLEY North West
- MOTTRAM North West
- MOULTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE East Midlands
- NAILSEA South West
- NEW BRANCEPETH North East
- NEW MILLS East Midlands
- NEWPORT CHARTIST Wales
- NEWPORT, SHROPSHIRE West Midlands
- NORMANTON Yorkshire and The Humber
- NORTH CARLTON East Midlands
- NOTTINGHAM ARCHER East Midlands
- OTLEY Yorkshire and The Humber
- PADGATE North West
- PEARTREE East Midlands
- PENDLETON North West
- PENKRIDGE West Midlands
- PETERBOROUGH WENTWORTH East of England
- PLUMTREE East Midlands
- PLYMPTON South West
- PORTHCAWL Wales
- PRESCOT North West
- PRESTON, LANCASHIRE North West
- PRINCES RISBOROUGH South East
- RAUNDS East Midlands
- ROTHLEY East Midlands
- SADDLEWORTH North West
- SALTASH South West
- SANDY East of England
- SEACROFT Yorkshire and The Humber
- SEAHAM North East
- SHAW North West
- SHEPSHED East Midlands
- SHEPTON MALLET South West
- SHREWSBURY, Shropshire
- SKELMERSDALE North West
- SLOANE London
- SOUTHBANK London
- SPENNYMOOR North East
- STANLEY, MERSEYSIDE North West
- STEPNEY London
- STIRCHLEY West Midlands
- STIRLING Scotland
- STOCKPORT North West
- STOTFOLD East of England
- SUDBROOKE PARK East Midlands
- THIRSK Yorkshire and The Humber
- TRING East of England
- UNDERCLIFFE Yorkshire and The Humber
- UPHOLLAND North West
- VERWOOD South West
- WARMINSTER South West
- WASHINGBOROUGH East Midlands
- WELLINGBOROUGH East Midlands
- WERRINGTON East of England
- WESTWOOD, CAMBRIDGESHIRE East of England
- WHITEHALL London
- WHITWELL, DERBYSHIRE East Midlands
- WIDE OPEN North East
- WINTERBOURNE South West
- WOMBWELL Yorkshire and The Humber
- WOODBOROUGH, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE East Midlands
- WORPLESDON South East
And here's the competition winners' list:
- BASCHURCH, Shropshire
- BLEWBURY, Oxfordshire
- CAXTON, Cambridgeshire
- INNERLEITHEN, Scottish Borders
- MADINGLEY, Cambridgeshire
- WHITCHURCH, Hampshire
- LINDFIELD, West Sussex
- CAPEL, Surrey
- MARTON, Warwickshire
- BURLEY IN WHARFEDALE, Yorkshire