BT puts first 100Mbps fibre down

UK incumbent carrier BT has started its first deployment of fibre-optic cable, in the Ebbsfleet Valley in Kent.

From August, around 10,000 homes on Land Securities’ 1,000 acre new build project and a number of commercial spaces in the area will have access to blistering 100Mbps broadband speeds.

BT said that the service would allow multiple HDTV channels to be watched simultaneously, HDTV gaming, and near instant music downloads.

The carrier’s infrastructure spin off, Openreach, will offer all the products on a wholesale basis to all UK communication providers allowing for competition at a retail level.

Steve Robertson, chief executive of Openreach, said: “This is our first deployment of fibre rather than copper to residential customers on a new build site. It will enable communication providers to gauge what demand exists for very high speed broadband, and to assess what commercial models may be appropriate in the future.”

In the future BT said it plans to make greater use of fibre in suitable new build sites, and a significant opportunity is presented by the government’s plan to build 3 million new houses by 2020.

But the carrier warned that this investment depends on an acceptable agreement with UK regulator Ofcom about how best to extend the regulatory framework to accommodate future fibre deployment. When Deutsche Telekom began building a fibre network in Germany, it sought a regulatory holiday on the deployment. A request which generated much controversy.

BT said it is also committed to increasing broadband speeds over copper, introducing services of up to 24Mbps this Spring.