BT announced today that following successful trials of ‘FTTP on demand’ in St Agnes, it will now look to rollout the technology nationwide.
This solution allows additional fibre to be run on demand to a home or business in a Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) enabled area, providing the customer with ultra-fast Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) broadband.
Previously, FTTP speeds weren’t possible in FTTC enabled areas, but BT has developed a solution that takes advantage of the fibre it has already deployed between the exchange and the street cabinet.
BT says the technological development has the potential to transform the UK broadband landscape. This is because FTTP – which will soon offer end users speeds of up to 300Mbps – could be made available anywhere in BT’s fibre footprint where a customer requires it. BT will conduct further trials of FTTP on demand in the summer, with a view to making the service commercially available to all communications providers by spring 2013.
Olivia Garfield, chief executive of BT’s local network business Openreach, said: “FTTP on demand is a significant development for Broadband Britain. Essentially, it could make our fastest speeds available wherever we deploy fibre. This will be welcome news for small businesses who may wish to benefit from the competitive advantage that such speeds provide.”
Superfast Cornwall programme director Nigel Ashcroft added: “It is great news that this innovative trial among businesses in St Agnes has proved such a success.
“The feedback from businesses has been overwhelmingly positive. The technology is making a major contribution to their success. Once again, Cornwall is leading the UK with a pioneering initiative. Super-fast broadband is vital to the future prosperity of Cornwall and the isles and the Scilly and the UK as a whole.”
