Extended Reach For Bt Broadband

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EXTENDED REACH FOR BT BROADBAND



As you know, we have been running extended reach trials in this region in the Milton Keynes area. As a result of the success of these trials and others in the Scottish Highlands, I am pleased to tell you that this morning BT announced that, from 6th September 2004, we will remove the current distance-related limits for the most popular ADSL broadband services in enabled areas in the region. This will bring one million more premises across the UK within range of an enabled exchange.



Here in the South-East that brings approximately 187,000 more homes and businesses within the reach of broadband. It will open up the potential of high-speed broadband to: 42,000 more homes and businesses in Kent



This means that 99.8% of lines served by a broadband-enabled exchange will now support the standard 512kbps broadband service (compared to the current 96%). Additionally, we are now able to significantly increase the range for 1mbps services from 4km to approximately 6km, raising availability from approximately 75% to 96% of lines on enabled exchanges.



As I mentioned earlier both improvements have been made possible by the success of the recent trials in Milton Keynes and in Fort William and Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands. One of the key findings from the trials was that approximately one in five people beyond the former 6km limit will require a visit by a BT engineer to make modifications at their premises. In a small number of residual cases (averaging 0.2%) it may still not be possible to provide reliable broadband services and we will seek other solutions for these customers as the technologies develop.



This, together with the exchange upgrade programme announced earlier this year, means that by summer 2005 availability of ADSL broadband in the UK will be 99.4% (99.9% in the SE), on a par with the percentage of homes that can get good quality analogue TV signals for the four main terrestrial channels.



The UK has now established a convincing lead in the G7 nations for broadband coverage. The challenge for public and private organisations alike is to see that the benefits are fully exploited. We now want to continue to build on the success already achieved here in the region to ensure more businesses and consumers take full advantage of the exciting opportunities on offer through broadband technology.





Brian Tayler

Strategy Advisor, Connecting Kent

G14/G15 Sessions House

County Hall

Maidstone

Kent ME14 1XQ

Office: 01622 694080 / Freecall 7000 4080

Mobile: 07768 982456

Taken from an email I received today