Fife goes fibre-optic
BT has introduced fibre-based broadband to Dalgety Bay in Fife, after announcing £2.5bn of investment to cover two thirds of the UK with super-fast internet services by 2015.
The move will undoubtedly intensify the race between Virgin Media and BT to provide the fastest internet connections.
Almost 4,000 households and businesses in Dalgety Bay are among the first in the UK to sample BT's next generation service, which uses fibre to street cabinets to offer download speeds of up to 40Mb/s and upload capability of up to 10Mb/s.
BT said the speeds could rise to 60Mb/s in the future, with faster speeds possible if the fibre goes directly to the home or office, powering new business applications and offering more sophisticated home and entertainment services.
However, BT warned a minority of homes in upgraded areas may not be able to receive the service for technical reasons at first, but its local network business, Openreach, which is deploying the technology, is seeking solutions.
Brendan Dick, BT director for Scotland, said: "As our roll-out of super-fast, fibre-based broadband continues, many more people in other parts of the country, including around 20,000 in Dunfermline, can look forward to faster speeds in the pipeline. We are very open to holding discussions with the public sector to explore ways of bringing super-fast, fibre-based broadband to locations where the economics are more challenging."
In what could be perceived as a challenge to Virgin Media, Dick added: "BT is the only company consistently investing in a range of broadband technologies across Scotland."
BT announced price cuts designed specifically to undercut Virgin at the higher speeds in January 2010, but the company has had to rely on pricing to encourage new customers to sign up, as Virgin's top service trumps BT's on speed, offering up to 50Mb/s instead of BT's 40Mb/s.
In February, Virgin consolidated its poll position in the broadband speed race and said it will begin to roll out its 100Mb/s service by the end of this year, offering more than double the speed of BT's best effort.
The spat gained momentum in early 2009 when BT announced the 29 locations that would benefit from its fibre-optic broadband service this year. Virgin coolly responded with a list of locations that could already receive Virgin's 50Mb/s service.
BT's fibre ambitions build on its existing scheme to roll out speeds of 20Mb/s to a third of Scottish homes and businesses using the existing copper wire network. The firm predicts it will cover 42 percent of the area by next spring.
BT said it will announce further roll-out plans later this year.
