BTOpenreach claims to have boosted the total number of permanent full-time engineers involved with deploying its superfast broadband (FTTC / FTTP) ISP services in the UK to over 3,000 after it added an additional 150 recruits.
BT and the Lancashire County Council (LCC) have announced that 97% of homes and businesses in the UK county will be able to receive the telecom operators superfast broadband (FTTC , FTTP) ISP services by the end of 2014 (subject to the timing of State Aid approval) after both parties agreed the new £62.5 million project.
Apparently BT’s work to rollout superfast broadband internet access (FTTC etc.) services in London will, over the next 15 years, help to create 26,000 new jobs in the city and boost the capitals economy by £20bn (£7.3bn in improved business performance, £11bn from business creation and nearly £1bn via home-working).
BTOpenreach has today officially selected Deddington (Oxfordshire, UK) as the first rural village to take part in their unique Fibre-Only Exchange (FOX) trial, which will replace the areas existing “copper-based products” with ultrafast fibre optic broadband (e.g. 100Mbps+ FTTP) and phone (Fibre Voice Access) services.
BT has denied that the backup batteries used by its new generation of fibre optic (FTTC, FTTP) connected superfast broadband street cabinets could soon become a target for thieves. The result could be a serious loss of connectivity, albeit only if the theft occurred during a power outage.
Telecoms analyst firm Point Topic reports that alternative UK network operators, such as Rutland Telecom and Call Flow Solutions, have managed to increased their residential customer base by 85% since the middle of 2011. The news suggests that some of the smaller operators are “beginning to find their niche” by helping to reach poorly connected rural areas and individual communities with superfast internet access.
BTOpenreach has announced that its Fibre Voice Access (FVA / FVA-FTTP) product, which allows ISPs to offer voice (telephone) services over fully fibre optic broadband lines (e.g. BT’s 100Mbps+ Fibre-to-the-Premises [ FTTP ] service), has now become available as part of their Early Market Deployment (EMD) launch.
The £132 Million “Big Build” Superfast Cornwall project, which aims to make BT’s superfast broadband ISP services available to at least 80% (ideally 90%) of homes and businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by the end of 2014, has expanded its availability to a quarter of all premises (66,000 Cornish premises) in the region.