BT plans to test G.fast in two pilot locations in summer 2015 and hopes the technology will allow it to deliver up to 500 Mbps speeds to most of the UK by 2025, CEO Gavin Patterson announced. If the new technology proves successful, deployment will start in 2016-2017 and initial services offering a few hundred Mbps will be available to millions of homes by 2020. Speeds will rise to 500 Mbps as more industry standards are agreed and new equipment developed.
Patterson said the upgrade “will depend however on there continuing to be a stable regulatory environment that supports investment.” Connecting Cambridgeshire superfast broadband programme welcomed the announcement that one of the pilots will be in Huntington. The other will be in the Gosforth area of Newcastle. Around 4,000 homes and businesses will be able to take part at both locations.
The pilots will build on recent tests at BT’s innovation centre at Adastral Park, Suffolk. These have shown that G.fast has the potential to deliver significant speed increases from existing and new fibre street cabinets as well as from other points closer to the customer. BT is likely to deploy G.fast from various points in the network, with the pilots allowing it to assess different roll-out options.
The company is also planning to develop a premium fibre broadband service for residential and business customers who want up to 1Gbps. BT’s FttC passes nearly 22 million premises at present, or about three-quarters of the UK. It is open to alternative operators on an equal basis.
