BT is to trial next generation high-speed broadband in 15,000 UK homes it was revealed today.
Exchanges in Muswell Hill in London and Whitchurch in South Glamorgan will be the location of the trials. Once the exchanges have been upgraded with fibre-optic broadband, residents in these areas should be able to go online at speeds of up to 40 megabits per second – more than 12 times faster than the current UK average. This means a DVD quality film could be downloaded in 11 minutes as opposed to the two and a quarter hours it takes on average using current copper wire broadband technology.
The trials in Muswell Hill and Whitchurch will run fibre-optic cable to existing street cabinets that connect homes and businesses to telephone exchanges. A BT spokesperson said that the two locations were chosen because of their demographic and the mix of available providers, as well as their communications network and balance between rural and urban locations. However, the scheme is likely to be piloted in other regions towards the end of next year: “Areas which were shortlisted but not selected will be considered alongside many more areas for next stage pilots expected later in 2009,” he said.
The service is set to be rolled out commercially in 2010, with an estimated 10 million homes receiving next generation broadband in 2012.
The pilot scheme is being run by BT Openreach which is responsible for the ‘first mile’ of the communications network that links homes and office buildings to BT’s core network. Participants will be encouraged to put pressure on their broadband connection by, for example, downloading high density films and simultaneously participating in online gaming to test how the system will cope with such demands.
“We have no clear idea of the applications that are out there that people might need really high speed services for,” said the spokesperson.
In a separate trial BT is also running fibre directly to thousands of new homes being built at a large scale development in Ebbsfleet, Kent. It is estimated that residents of the new houses, which are currently under construction, will be able to enjoy speeds of up to 100Mbps.
The current UK average broadband speed is estimated to be 3.2 Mbps. London’s average speed is 4.5 Mbps, but in Northern Ireland it is just 2.3 Mbps.
Earlier this year, BT announced a £1.5bn investment in fibre-based broadband.
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