BT CEO Gavin Patterson today set out the company’s ambition to transform the UK broadband landscape from superfast to ultrafast.
BT outlined plans to deliver much faster broadband for homes and small businesses via a widespread deployment of G.fast, enabling speeds of up to 500 Mbps. Trial deployments to two pilot locations (Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and Gosforth, Newcastle) are expected this summer to around 4,000 homes. If successful, BT anticipates G.fast rollouts starting in 2016/17.
The pilots will build on recent tests at BT’s innovation centre at Adastral Park, Suffolk which have shown that G.fast has the potential to deliver significant speed increases from existing and new fibre street cabinets as well as from other points closer to the customer.
“BT is a world leader when it comes to fibre innovation and we are excited about the next stage in our story,” Patterson said today. “We believe G.fast is the key to unlocking ultrafast speeds and we are prepared to upgrade large parts of our network should the pilots prove successful. That upgrade will depend however on there continuing to be a stable regulatory environment that supports investment.
“The UK is ahead of its major European neighbours when it comes to broadband and we need to stay ahead as customer demands evolve. G.fast will allow us to do that by building on the investment we have made in fibre to date. It will transform the UK broadband landscape from superfast to ultrafast in the quickest possible timeframe.”
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- BT’s fiber network currently passes almost 22 million premises – around three quarters of the UK – and is open to all communications providers on an equal basis.
