BT Openreach (NYSE: BT) continues to make progress with its Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC)-based broadband service with a new plan to make the service available to 114 additional telephone exchanges by the fall of 2012.
When the upgrade is complete, Openreach said that over 1 million premises (both businesses and residential) will be able to get the service with plans to reveal other locations in the next few months.
Available on a wholesale basis to BT Retail and other competitors, including BskyB and TalkTalk (LSE: TALK), the FTTC currently delivers speeds of up to 40 Mbps downstream and 10 Mbps upstream. However, Openreach plans to leverage new copper innovations to double the speeds in 2012. Simultaneously, BT Openreach is rolling out Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) service that can deliver speed of up to 100 Mbps in select areas.
This latest FTTC deployment drive is part of the service provider's ambitious $3.9 billion plan to make fiber-based broadband services to two-third of UK homes and businesses.
Mike Galvin, Openreach managing director for Next Generation Access, said that they "are on track to pass 10 million homes and businesses next year before pushing on further" adding that with "the government's support makes it possible to get fiber to 90 percent of homes."
For more:
- see the release
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Olivia Garfield, BT Openreach