The Vice President of the European Commission’s (EC) Digital Agenda strategy, Neelie Kroes, suggested in a speech to the Cable Congress of the European Cable Communications Association (Brussels, Germany) yesterday that it was “not possible” for Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technology to “really provide 100 Megabits” superfast broadband ISP speeds. Naturally BTOpenreach, which is using the same technology for its national UK rollout, disagrees.
The UK governments Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has today announced that all but two local authorities (councils) have managed to submit their draft Local Broadband Plans (LBP) on time, which aim to help make superfast broadband (25Mbps+) ISP services available to 90% of the country by 2015 (the last 10% will get at least 2Mbps). In addition 40% of local authority projects have been given the green light to proceed with procurement.
Consultancy firm Analysys Mason, which was recently appointed by six French governmental and public bodies to conduct a prospective study on the services that would justify the need for ultra-fast fibre optic broadband technology (e.g. 100Mbps+ FTTH), has today published its conclusions. The results, which found that “no killer application justifies the need” for ultra-fast fibre (except perhaps IPTV), might also have some relevance for the UK market.
Wispa Limited, an outspoken group of consultants who passionately believe Wales (UK) deserves better broadband, claims to have established the “root cause” of the country’s broadband issues. Apparently the problem is that Wales simply has too many Trees and only their “systematic removal” will solve this.
The results from 830 respondents (polled during February 2012) to our latest monthly reader survey has revealed that almost three quarters (71%) of respondents would be willing to pay more to upgrade their current service with a reliable superfast broadband (25Mbps+) connection, yet over half (55%) still point to a lack of availability as being the main barrier to their adoption.
The £132 Million “Big Build” Superfast Cornwall project, which aims to make BT’s superfast broadband ISP services available to at least 80% (ideally 90%) of homes and businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by the end of 2014, has expanded its availability to a quarter of all premises (66,000 Cornish premises) in the region.
The governments Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has just released a new map of UK superfast broadband availability that covers 36 large towns and cities (i.e. those where the number of dwellings exceeds 100,000) across the country.