News
The new deal will give Sky’s customers access to a range of ultrafast services
Sky is to provide its customers with ultrafast broadband connectivity of up to 330Mbps, thanks to a new deal signed with Openreach.
According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Sky will receive a 40 per cent discount on Openreach’s G.Fast technology, that is capable of boosting copper network speeds up to a maximum of 1Gbps.
As part of the deal, Sky will commit to provide at least 84 per cent of its existing customers with superfast services (24Mbps). Currently only 60 per cent of the company’s customers can access superfast speeds.
With the UK focussing on a "fibre first" strategy, some will argue that Sky’s reliance on copper based, legacy infrastructure will limit the type of services it is able to offer in the near future.
Openreach anticipates that it will deploy G.Fast services to 5.7 million customers across the UK over the next two years.
“Openreach’s deal, with lower wholesale pricing, enables us to accelerate take-up of ultrafast and full fibre broadband across the UK, while ensuring that competition at a network level remains strong,” a Sky source told The Daily Telegraph.
Despite receiving a 40 per cent discount on Openreach’s wholesale rates, sources told The Daily Telegraph that Sky was unlikely to pass that discount on to its customers immediately.
Also in the news:
BT considers former Ofcom boss for CEO role
A million Km of fibre – India’s quest to bring 5G to the masses
