Fiber-to-the-home network supports speeds up to 1 Gbps; fiber-to-the-premises infrastructure reaches 327,000 homes and business in the U.K.
U.K. telecommunications operator BT’s network business unit Openreach confirmed plans to more than double the speeds available over its fiber-to-the-premises network, boosting the maximum download speeds available from the current 330 megabits per second up to 1 gigabit per second. The firm also plans to expand the reach of FTTP and fiber-to-the-home plants.
Openreach’s wholesale FTTP network currently passes more than 327,000 homes and businesses across the U.K. Openreach expects its FTTP network to reach nearly 2 million homes and businesses by 2020. The upgrades are part of a plan to make faster speeds available to up to 12 million U.K. premises in the same timeframe using a mix of fiber technologies, the company said.
Openreach also plans to launch two additional wholesale products over its FTTP network infrastructure next month, including a new 500 Mbps product – with upload speeds of up to 165 Mbps – and an up to 1 Gbps option with an upload speed of up to 220 Mbps. The operator said it will mainly target small- and medium-sized companies with the new offerings.
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“We’re committed to taking the U.K. from being a superfast to an ultrafast nation, and whilst we’re extending the reach of our fiber-to-the-premises network, we’re also boosting the speed and variety of the services we can offer over it,” Openreach CEO Clive Selley, said. “This is another example of how our mixed technology approach is getting the fastest possible speeds to the largest number of people in the shortest possible timeframe.”
Openreach said it has been carrying out trials of new processes and techniques – including “plug-and-play” technology – to deploy FTTP more quickly and efficiently across the U.K.
Last month, Openreach and Huawei carried out a FTTP trial, which demonstrated 40 Gbps, 10 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps speeds, delivered simultaneously over a single fiber optic cable. The trial involved a FTTP connection running between the University of Suffolk, Ipswich Exchange, and BT’s research and development center at Adastral Park, in Ipswich.