Welcome Broadband Rollout Roundup, Recombu Digital’s weekly summary of faster broadband arrivals and announcements in the UK.
ADSL2+ hits 420,000 homes in Great Britain
More than 400,000 homes and businesses in England, Wales and Scotland can now access up to 20Mbps broadband from a choice of internet providers.
The ADSL2+ upgrades are part of BT Openreach’s plan to reach more than 70 per cent of the UK with speeds of up to 20Mbps by Spring 2013.
ADSL2+ delivers the best speeds to homes within a mile of the local exchange, but should also bring greater stability and quality of service to every connection.
In England, the upgrades have gone live in Nottinghamshire (5,300 homes and businesses), Derbyshire (13,000), Lincolnshire (12,600), Northamptonshire (6,000), Cambridgeshire (9,700), Bedfordshire (2,300), Norfolk (18,500), Hertfordshire (2,700), Essex (22,700), West Sussex (22,700), Kent (10,600), East Sussex (27,000), Buckinghamshire (15,000), Surrey (19,000), Isle of Wight (4,000), Hampshire (19,000), Oxfordshire (21,000), the North West (43,600), Lancashire (4,000), Greater Manchester (12,200), Wiltshire (8,800), and Gloucestershire (27,000).
In Wales, Denbighshire now has 19,400 homes and businesses in Denbigh, Prestatyn and Ruthin in reach of up-to-20Mbps, along with Colwyn Central, Bow Street in Ceredigion, and Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan.
In Scotland 86,700 homes and businesses have been connected to better broadband in 21 communities from Nairn in the Highlands to Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway.
A further seven Scottish exchanges will be added to the faster broadband roll-out programme and upgraded later this year, covering another 30,400 homes and businesses.
They are Eyemouth in Scottish Borders, Gorebridge in Midlothian, Muirhead in Angus, Rose Street in Edinburgh, Kilmacolm in Inverclyde, Largs in North Ayrshire and Thornhill in Dumfries & Galloway.
Superfast fibre-to-the-cabinet for 27 more UK exchanges
Another 27 exchanges across the UK were switched on for fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband, which can reach up to 80Mbps.
FTTC uses fibre-optic cables to reach streetside cabinets, and copper telephone wires with a very fast form of DSL to deliver up to 80Mbps to the home or business.
The exchanges are: Aberdeen Ashgrove, Aberdeen Denburn, Ardwick Le Street, Baldslow, Barnby Dun, Battersea, Blackfriars, Blidworth, Cambridge Central, Derby, Doncaster North, Dorking, Edgebaston, Epsom, Hackney, Interleithen, Laindon, Maesglas, Marton in Warwickshire, Pendleton, Penrith, Preston in Lancashire, Rayleigh, Redhill, Shepshed, Sutton Coldfield, Whiteley.
Virgin Media completes 100Mbps rollout to 13million homes
Virgin Media’s 100Mbps fibre-to-the-cabinet cable broadband now reaches its entire network, passing 13 million homes and businesses.
The UK cable giant has also officially dropped 10Mbps and 20Mbps options for new customers, with 30Mbps now the minimum broadband speed on offer.
That’s a result of Virgin’s ‘speed-doubling’ programme, which will upgrade its network over the next 17 months so that 10Mbps and 20Mbps customers get 30Mbps, former 30Mbps lines become 60Mbps and 50Mbps and 100Mps customers get 120Mbps.
A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “Creating a significant milestone for the UK, half of all homes are now able to take advantage of some of the fastest broadband speeds in Europe, helping propel the country up the global broadband speed charts and powering consumers for the next-generation of digital services.
“The completion of the 100Mb roll-out comes in time for an exciting ‘Summer of Sport’, primed to power the explosive growth of ‘connected’ devices including smartphones, consoles, TVs, computers and tablets now commonplace in the home.”
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