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Britain’s first 300Mbps fibre-only village unveiled

BT will replace every copper phone line in an Oxfordshire village with fibre-optic cables offering up to 300Mbps broadband and digital phone services.

The Duke of Cumberland's Head in Deddington, by Geoff SlackDeddington will be Britain’s first fibre-only community when the two-year upgrade to its exchange and 1,400 phone lines is complete in 2014.

BT Openreach, which builds and maintains the UK’s local phone and broadband connections, will start work in the Spring of 2012 first upgrading the exchange and extending fibre to streetside cabinets for ‘superfast’ broadband from 40Mbps.

Fibre-optic cables will then be run into homes and businesses premises, enabling ‘ultra-fast’ broadband speeds up to 300Mbps, from 2013 onwards.

Residents and businesses will be able to pick from a range of providers for both broadband and phone.

Sean Williams, Group Strategy Director of BT said: “Fresh advances in technology are pushing the boundaries for new services on an almost daily basis.

“This is an important pilot which will help the industry better understand the opportunities arising from a fibre-only world in which traditional copper will be replaced by the super-fast capabilities of fibre-optic cable.”

The community’s best broadband speeds are currently 6 to 8Mbps and will now have a choice of high-speed broadband providers.

Once voice and broadband services over fibre are established, Openreach will start to remove the copper-based services until Deddington is only using fibre-optic connections.

Councillor Jim Flux, chairman of Deddington Parish Council, added: “We are excited to be the first community in the UK to be piloting this latest innovation in telecommunications.

“Not only will our residents and businesses be able to take advantage of ultra-fast broadband speeds but Deddington is also helping pave the way for the services of the future.”

IMage: Geoff Slack/Panoramio

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