EXTENDED REACH FOR BT BROADBAND
As you know, we have been running extended reach trials in this region in
the Milton Keynes area. As a result of the success of these trials and others
in the Scottish Highlands, I am pleased to tell you that this morning BT announced
that, from 6th September 2004, we will remove the current distance-related
limits for the most popular ADSL broadband services in enabled areas in the
region. This will bring one million more premises across the UK within range
of an enabled exchange.
Here in the South-East that brings approximately 187,000 more homes and
businesses within the reach of broadband. It will open up the potential of
high-speed broadband to: 42,000 more homes and businesses in Kent
This means that 99.8% of lines served by a broadband-enabled exchange will
now support the standard 512kbps broadband service (compared to the current
96%). Additionally, we are now able to significantly increase the range for
1mbps services from 4km to approximately 6km, raising availability from approximately
75% to 96% of lines on enabled exchanges.
As I mentioned earlier both improvements have been made possible by the
success of the recent trials in Milton Keynes and in Fort William and Dingwall
in the Scottish Highlands. One of the key findings from the trials was that
approximately one in five people beyond the former 6km limit will require
a visit by a BT engineer to make modifications at their premises. [costs
will be around £100 more than the "self install" option that many consumers
choose.] In a small number of residual cases (averaging 0.2%) it may
still not be possible to provide reliable broadband services and we will seek
other solutions for these customers as the technologies develop.
This, together with the exchange upgrade programme announced earlier this
year, means that by summer 2005 availability of ADSL broadband in the UK will
be 99.4% (99.9% in the SE), on a par with the percentage of homes that can
get good quality analogue TV signals for the four main terrestrial channels.
The UK has now established a convincing lead in the G7 nations for broadband
coverage. The challenge for public and private organisations alike is to see
that the benefits are fully exploited. We now want to continue to build on
the success already achieved here in the region to ensure more businesses
and consumers take full advantage of the exciting opportunities on offer through
broadband technology.
