Internet and phone provider TalkTalk UK has become the first consumer ISP to announce the launch of its optional ‘up to’ 80Mbps Fibre Broadband Boost (20Mbps uploads) upgrade, which uses BT’s FTTC technology and is available for +£15 extra per month to the providers existing broadband subscribers (i.e. ‘Essentials’ and ‘Plus’ package customers).
BTOpenreach, which is responsible for providing UK ISPs with equal access to BT’s local and national telecoms and internet infrastructure, has confirmed that its new ‘up to’ 80Mbps (Megabits per second – download speed) superfast Fibre-to-the-Cabinet ( FTTC ) broadband speed upgrade will officially be introduced from “early” April 2012. The maximum upload speeds will also rise to 20Mbps.
UK ISP PlusNet has said that there are still “plenty of spaces open” on its trial of up to 80Mbps (Megabits per second) Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) broadband technology, which was made available to all residential subscribers last month (currently 100 staff and customers are taking part). Results so far are said to have been “very positive“.
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.
Residents of Kingsway Village in Gloucestershire (England, UK), which is home to a population of over 3,000 people, have started a new petition (Kingsway Villagers) that calls for Virgin Media to deploy their cable based superfast broadband, TV and phone services in the area.
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.