BT unveils super-fast broadband plans for Houghton Regis homes and businesses

Investment will build county’s reputation as “a great place to live and do business”; 

BT today announced a further expansion of high-speed fibre broadband in Bedfordshire, which is expected to help create jobs and boost the local economy. 

5,000 homes and businesses in the county are to be included in BT’s £2.5 billion commercial roll-out of fibre broadband in the UK. 

Houghton Regis will be upgraded by the end of Spring 2014. The expansion also includes a substantial investment in making fibre broadband more widely available in Dunstable and Luton, which already have the high-speed technology. 

It will take the total number of premises with access to fibre broadband in Bedfordshire to 191,000. More than 185,000 are already able to get the service across Bedfordshire - and BT is keen to bring more communities within reach by working with the public sector. 

Dave Hughes, BT’s East of England regional director, said: “This latest investment is a further vote of confidence in the future success of Bedfordshire. It will be an important part of our economic revival as we finally shrug off the effects of the downturn and create a better, more prosperous future. 

“Fast, sophisticated communications are the cornerstone of a successful community, helping local people to build their skills and knowledge and encouraging the creation of new businesses and jobs. This exciting technology will transform on-line education, training and leisure for households and enhance the competitiveness of local firms. 

“BT has now announced plans to make fibre broadband available to around 1.7 million East of England homes and businesses. Reaching that target will be a substantial achievement, but we want to go much further by working with the public sector to bring this exciting technology to more challenging areas.” 

Councillor Richard Wenham Deputy Executive Member for Corporate Resources at Central Bedfordshire Council, said “Rolling out superfast broadband in Central Bedfordshire is a priority for the Council and will have a number of major benefits for the area. This is great news from BT for Houghton Regis. Fast broadband is an essential tool for local businesses and I’ve no doubt it will be a catalyst for the creation of new jobs. It will also transform the lives of local families, whether they’re using the technology for accessing services, education, social networking or entertainment.” 

BT’s local network business, Openreach, will be making fibre broadband available to two-thirds of UK homes and businesses by the end of 2014. The roll-out uses a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies. More than 13 million UK premises can already access fibre broadband and this number is growing by around 100,000 every week. 

Both technologies offer speeds many times faster than the current UK average, reported by the regulator Ofcom to be 9Mbps. FTTC, where fibre is delivered to new street cabinets, offers download speeds of up to 80Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps 1. 

FTTP, where fibre runs all the way to homes and businesses, offers a variety of download speeds with the current top speed being 330Mbps1. From Spring 2013 BT aims to make speeds of 330Mbps1 available on demand in any area where FTTC has been deployed 2. 

BT’s network is available on an open, wholesale basis to all companies providing broadband services so Bedfordshire households and businesses will benefit from a highly competitive market. 

Internet users with a fibre broadband connection can do much more online, all at the same time. A family can download a movie, watch a TV replay service, surf the net and play games online simultaneously. A whole album can be downloaded in less than 30 seconds and a feature length HD movie in less than 10 minutes, whilst high-resolution photos can be uploaded to Facebook in seconds. 

The upload speeds are the fastest widely available to consumers in the UK, with large video and data files being sent almost instantly and hi-resolution photos posted online in seconds. And high quality voice and video calls mean businesses can keep in touch with customers while they cut down on travel. 

For further information on Openreach’s fibre broadband programme visit www.superfast-openreach.co.uk 

ENDS 

Notes to editors 

1These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary. 
2 Openreach will levy an installation charge for FTTP on demand. It will be up to service providers to decide whether they pass that onto businesses or consumers wishing to take advantage of the product. 

Due to the current network topography, and the economics of deployment, it is likely that some premises within the selected exchange areas will not initially be able to access fibre-based broadband. Alternative solutions for these locations are being investigated.