Superfast Wales Project Deploys Some Ultrafast 330Mbps FTTP Broadband

Believe it or not, Wales will be getting some 330Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband from BT as part of the local state aid supported £425m Superfast Cymru project. This aims to make faster “fibre broadband” (FTTC) speeds of up to 80Mbps available to 96% of Welsh premises by the end of spring 2016 (700,000 premises).

So far the vast majority of the project in Wales has focused on rolling out BT’s ‘up to’ 80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) service, which has already helped to reach an extra 190,000 premises (here). But Thinkbroadband are today reporting that several areas have also been given an upgrade to the significantly faster FTTP service and they predict that related coverage could eventually rival Cornwall’s.

Apparently around 80 premises in Abersoch (Gwynedd), 100-200 in Gaerwen (Anglesey), 70-170 in Morriston (Swansea) and possibly another 70 in Maeglas (a neighbourhood in the south west of Newport) are predicted to have recently been put within reach of the native service (i.e. NOT the expensive Fibre on Demand equivalent) or may be able to receive it in the not too distant future. Take note that most of these seem to be catering for industrial/business areas.

Over the past few months we’ve witnessed an increased level of activity on the FTTP front from BT, with a number of BDUK schemes beginning to do similar upgrades, albeit within a somewhat limited scope. The news is good and if the source is correct about FTTP in Wales eventually rivalling Cornwall’s (i.e. 62,000 premises passed) then we’d be quite pleased, although it’s currently unclear what this prediction is based off or if BTOpenreach have confirmed the above.

UPDATE 4:29pm:

An additional four telephone exchange areas have also been identified with some FTTP including 20 – 100 premises in Culverhouse Cross, 15 in Gorseinon, 15 to potentially 400 (future) in Llanberis and 20 in the wonderfully named Mold. As with the above, the end figures could be much higher.

Apparently these details have been confirmed by BT. A spokesperson for BTOpenreach has told ISPreview.co.uk that they couldn’t officially confirm the above details, but wouldn’t argue with them either.