UK ISP Easynet Launches Business 80Mbps FTTC Superfast Broadband

Communications provider Easynet Global Services has today launched a range of new ‘up to’ 80Mbps (Megabits per second) capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) based business superfast broadband internet access products for the UK market, which it curiously claims will be available to 80% of UK businesses by 2014.

Easynet states that it can now build new connections outside its “extensive” unbundled telephone exchange (LLU) footprint and that their VDSL Business portfolio, which can be installed within 20 working days, will be available to around 30% of UK businesses initially, increasing to around 80% by 2014.

Ivan Gunatilleke, Easynet’s UK Managing Director, said:

“As more key systems live in the Cloud, there is a renewed focus on the importance of reliable, resilient and secure networks in the UK. With this in mind, our new fibre-to-the-cabinet products offer much faster access, placing speeds onto a par with company LAN speeds for the first time and making Cloud the simple option for UK business. This is backed up with Easynet’s outstanding customer service and flexible delivery, making it a powerful proposition for UK business.”

On the surface it almost sounds like Easynet are going to build their own FTTC network but in reality it’s still based upon BT’s infrastructure, which officially aims to reach 66% of UK premises (homes and businesses) by the “end” of 2014.

We suspect that the slightly confusing 80% figure is what you get when residential/domestic coverage is removed from that 66% in favour of a business-only figure (we’re currently double checking this with Easynet). Most businesses are of course concentrated in urban areas where FTTC installation has taken priority.