Super-fast fibre broadband ‘goes live’ in Westbourne

More than 10,000 local homes and businesses to benefit from BT roll-out 

High-speed fibre broadband is now available to the first homes and businesses in Westbourne, BT announced today.

More than 10,000 Westbourne householders and firms are joining the high-speed revolution, following in the footsteps of Winton, Southbourne and Boscombe that have already ‘gone live’.

This latest development takes the number of premises with access to fibre broadband in Bournemouth to more than 62,000. Another 11,000 in central Bournemouth are earmarked for an upgrade later this year and nearly 10,000 in Northbourne next year.

The BT investment is expected to give a major boost to the local economy. A recent report by Regeneris Consulting predicted that over the next 15 years the technology could give the economy of a typical town a £143 million boost, create 225 new jobs and 140 new start-up businesses.

BT’s local network business, Openreach, aims to make the high speed technology available to around two-thirds of UK homes and businesses by the end of 20141. It will use a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies. Both offer speeds much faster than those currently available to many UK homes and businesses.

FTTC, where fibre is delivered to the street cabinet, offers download speeds of up to 80Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps2.

FTTP, where fibre runs all the way to homes and businesses, offers a variety of download speeds with the current top speed being 330Mbps2. From Spring 2013 BT aims to make speeds of 330Mbps2 commercially available in any area where fibre broadband has been deployed, potentially transforming the competitiveness of businesses.3.

BT recently passed a significant milestone when it revealed its fibre broadband service is now available to 11 million premises across the UK. The company was due to pass 10 million premises by the end of 2012 so it is several months ahead of schedule.

Peter Speroni, Superfast Dorset programme manager for Dorset County Council, said: "Improving electronic connectivity, particularly through high speed broadband, is a key priority. The overall aim is to deliver growth. Businesses can use the technology to be more efficient and competitive. Individuals will also benefit by developing their education and skills for a fast-changing world.”

Jon Reynolds, BT’s South West regional director, said: “The advent of fibre broadband in Westbourne is a massive fillip for businesses and households. It will enrich people’s lives and bring a much-needed boost to businesses in these economically challenging times. They’re joining 11 million UK premises which are now passed by one of the world’s fastest growing fibre networks.

“Fibre broadband offers local firms and households new ways of working flexibly and allows large data and video files to be sent and received almost instantly. Other benefits include access to high quality videoconferencing and better back-up of computer systems.”

At home a family could be simultaneously downloading a movie, watching a TV replay service, surfing the internet and playing games online. 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.

Unlike other network operators, Openreach offers fibre broadband access to all service providers on an open, wholesale basis, thereby underpinning a competitive market. For further information on Openreach’s fibre broadband programme visit www.superfast-openreach.co.uk

ENDS


Notes to editors
1 BT’s deployment plans are subject to an acceptable environment for investment.
2 These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
3 Openreach will levy an installation charge for FTTP on demand. It will be up to service providers to then 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. However, Openreach is actively looking at alternative solutions for these locations.