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BT Considers Launching Fiber-to-the-Curb Broadband Network

2:46 am on July 26, 2007 | Category: Internet, Telecom Services

Britain’s incumbent telephone provider, BT, is examining the case for an ultra-high-speed fiber optic broadband network, according to the company’s Chairman, Sir Christopher Bland, who is set to retire in September.

BT is considering the deployment of a fiber-to-the-curb broadband network, which could deliver downstream bandwidth of 40 to 50 Mbps, compared with just 8 Mbps on BT’s existing DSL infrastructure.

Bland said that a fiber-to-the-curb, as opposed to fiber-to-the-home, was the most likely option, but stressed that a decision had not yet been made.

The Broadband Stakeholder Group, a UK government advisory panel, predicted in April that BT’s existing ADSL and ADSL2+ networks would be unable to keep up with the country’s bandwidth demand by the year 2012. BT will need to begin rolling out fiber optic infrastructure within the next two years, the group concluded, or else Britain’s broadband competitiveness would suffer.

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