BT on Tuesday revealed that its ultrafast broadband service will provide up to 500 Mbps broadband to 10 million premises by 2020.
The disclosure was made during a long-winded announcement reaffirming the telco’s commitment to extending faster Internet services to harder-to-reach areas of the U.K. using various technologies including satellite, and a suggestion that the incumbent’s abortive fibre-on-demand (FoD) service may come back from the dead.
The announcement also contained not-so-subtle hints about the positive impact that BT’s network investments will have on the U.K. economy and the fact that these investments have been made possible thanks to a supportive regulatory environment, something that the telco has warned could change if regulators force a full separation of its Openreach infrastructure arm.
"We want to forge an ultrafast future for Britain and stand ready to help government deliver the broadband speeds necessary for every property to enjoy modern day Internet services, such as high definition TV streaming and cloud computing," said Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT, in a statement. "To achieve this, we need a collaborative effort across industry and government."
BT said its 300 Mbps-500 Mbps ultrafast service will be delivered via a co mbination of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and G.fast technology.
BT has already begun connecting the first homes to G.fast as part of a trial involving up to 4,000 premises. The company plans to kick off a wider deployment in 2016-17 with a view to making 500 Mbps broadband available to most of the U.K. within a decade.
As for FTTP, BT has committed to supplying fibre broadband for all new housing developments, either through a standalone deployment or in cooperation with developers.
Theses new services will "reach 10 million homes and smaller businesses by the end of 2020, and the majority of premises within a decade," BT said.
The telco also said that "a 1 Gbps service will be provided for those that want even faster speeds," suggesting that FoD could soon go back on sale.
In January, BT stopped taking new orders for FoD following a price hike due to higher-than-forecast deployment costs.
BT also reaffirmed its commitment to delivering a minimum broadband speed of 5 Mbps-10 Mbps to the whole of the U.K., revealing that it will launch a satellite broadband service for some remote areas by the end of the year. BT also said it will work with the government to ensure that the £129 million of returned BDUK funds are used to extend fibre-based broadband to more than 95% of premises.
The announcement coincided with the release of a new report by KPMG that claimed BT’s network investments could be worth £20 billion-£30 billion to the U.K. economy over the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, Openreach updated its charter in a bid to further improve services and exceed by 6% Ofcom’s 2017 minimum standard for delivering new connections on time. Openreach is also rolling out ‘View My Engineer’, which enables customers progress updates a nd contact details for their Openreach engineer.
BT has repeatedly warned that breaking up the company will result in years of uncertainty, limiting its ability and appetite to invest in new infrastructure.
Patterson said in a Telegraph report in July that he would postpone network investment and go to court in order to prevent a structural separation.
