BT unbundles 1 million lines

BT’s local loop unbundling unit, Openreach, said Wednesday that it has achieved the milestone of handing over 1 million lines to its competitors.

Openreach said that on average it is currently fulfilling almost 30,000 LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) orders per week, with more than 20 operators now providing unbundled services from more than 1,000 local exchanges across the UK.

But BT has hinted that it is struggling to meet demand for unbundled lines. Last month the operators announced plans to recruit around 400 extra engineers to reduce the time it takes to connect ISPs’ local loop customers to the internet.

BT’s Openreach programme requires an engineer to connect the broadband user’s landline to the ISP’s LLU kit inside the local BT exchange. But demand for LLU services following the launch of a number of ‘free’ broadband services, has been “very strong”, according to BT.