BT Extends Reach Of Broadband
BT has announced its extended broadband services now reach 80% of homes, which is comparable to the number of homes connected to the mains gas network.
Commenting on the growth in uptake, Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said: “This is a tremendous achievement for BT and for the UK. By July last year our broadband rollout programme had reached exchanges serving two-thirds of UK homes. By giving local people a say in where we direct investment through our innovative demand-led registration scheme we have helped spark interest in broadband and the potential it offers.”
BT embarked on extensive promotion of its broadband services earlier this summer. A range of incentives were introduced to tempt consumers to sign up to the high-speed BT Broadband and BT Openworld products (see BT Launches Summer Promotions To Boost Broadband). The telecoms giant also fostered a £10 million ad campaign with Yahoo! to support the launch of their new high-speed internet service (see BT Yahoo! Broadband Launch Supported With £10m Ad Push).
Reynolds added: “More than half a million people have registered their interest in getting broadband through our registration scheme, 900 exchanges have hit their demand trigger, more than 500 of these are live for broadband and the rest are in the process of being upgraded. This has brought us to 80% coverage two years ahead of earlier expectation – a great achievement. But we are not letting up with efforts to widen availability and grow the market in enabled areas.”
More than 1.25 million people already have ADSL broadband internet connections over BT’s network and the company is committed to bringing broadband availability to 90% of UK homes.
BT has also announced that the reach of broadband in enabled exchange areas would be extended, Reynolds said: “Following trials involving a range of service providers and more than 1000 broadband users we are confident we can extend the reach of broadband and maintain quality of service for users. When this development is introduced on September 24 it will bring another 600,000 homes and businesses within reach of broadband ”
The latest research from Nielsen//NetRatings shows that Western markets have seen dramatic growth in broadband subscriptions over the past year and more than a quarter of European internet users are now connected at high-speed (see Broadband Boosts Internet Usage Across Europe).
BT: 0207 469 2337 www.bt.com
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