BT Update on LR-VDSL Broadband Speeds, XdB, FTTP and FTTC Progress

A recent meeting between ISPs and BT has yielded fresh information on the expected performance of Openreach’s new Long Reach VDSL (FTTC) broadband tech, as well as some updates on their XdB trials, FTTP roll-out progress and a few hints about other changes.

Firstly, the event revealed a few small tidbits of new information about existing progress and deployments. For example, BT confirmed that their Gigabit cable Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) network had already achieved a Total Homes Passed coverage of 400,000+ premises and they expect to reach an additional 244,000 between now and April 2018 (part of the current 2 million target for 2020).

Openreach has also introduced a number of expected improvements to their FTTP service, such as via the installation experience that now only requires a single visit and completion within 1 day. ISPreview also noted that the operator had issued a forecast for their future roll-out of slower Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technology, which highlights how the pace is slowing as they reach smaller and more challenging rural areas (this is natural).

NOTE: Some Broadband Delivery UK contracts will also be drawing to an end in the below period, which has an impact.

Elsewhere they still expect to complete the XdB upgrade across their Huawei based FTTC network by September 2017 (full details). The upgrade allows their service to support target downstream noise margins of less than 6dB (current default), with the margin dropping to just 3dB on some lines. Speed increases of up to 9Mbps have been seen on some shorter lines and about 1.2 million lines are involved with the initial migration phase (started mid-May 2017).

We also got a small update on the progress of their FTTC focused Single Order Generic Ethernet Access (SOGEA) trial, which is expected to enter the final pilot phase later this year and that should run until March 2018 (commercial launch to follow). This is Openreach’s product solution for giving consumers a standalone (naked) FTTC / VDSL “Fibre Broadband” line without the phone / voice service (more details here and here).

As part of that Openreach has become wise to the problem of “pair stealing” on SOGEA, which is something that cropped up all the way back in 2014 (here). This can occur when an already active broadband line is disrupted by an engineer (e.g. a third-party contractor like Kelly) who incorrectly takes over the line for use elsewhere (i.e. they might check for a “dial tone” first but this doesn’t exist with SOGEA).

The proposed solution for tackling pair stealing is a natural combination of better training and new tools (capable of detecting DSL signals).

LR-VDSL Performance

Last month Openreach issued an update on their plan to run a commercial pilot of FTTC style Long Reach VDSL technology, which could be used to support the Government’s proposed 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) by pushing “fibre based” broadband out to 99% of the UK by 2020 (here). Since then ISPreview has been trying to get some fresh data on trial performance and happily that’s what we’ve snagged.

BT’s latest update hints of an “expectation” that average downstream speeds will increase by around 16Mbps at the point of strategic deployment, although the latest data from their on-going trials (excludes lines on the Clachan or Whitehouse exchanges) notes that the downstream improvement rates can range from just 0.1Mbps to 22Mbps.

However we’ve mentioned before that further improvements are on the way, which are expected to deliver better speeds but these won’t be signed-off by the ITU until late 2017 or early 2018. That’s all for now.