Posted: 27th Jul, 2006 By: MarkJ
BT has released its latest results to the end of June 2006, highlighting a total of 8.7m broadband (xDSL) end-user lines (includes 580,000
LLU lines). BT Retails own share of these ADSL connections stood at 2,826,000.
The operator also reports that more than 750,000 subscribers have now been migrated onto MAX ('up to' 8Mbps ADSL) services. There's an interesting update on BT's 21st Century Networking plans too:
In response to industry feedback, BT presented a detailed 21st Century Network (21CN) proposal in May 2006, and since then has been actively consulting with industry and Ofcom on these revised proposals. These consultation streams are due to close over the coming weeks.
Upon conclusion, BT expects to have an industry-agreed rollout plan for 21CN. This will cover the migration of existing voice and IPStream broadband services and the introduction of next generation wholesale broadband services in a planned national upgrade. These new services, including backhaul support for LLU, next generation IP Connect and up to 24 Mbit/s broadband, are scheduled to be offered from January 2008 as part of the 21CN UK national rollout programme.
The delivery of 21CN will make BT the first incumbent operator in the world to switch off the PSTN and migrate all of its voice customers onto an all-IP network. Since May this year almost 23 million end-to-end calls have been successfully carried over this network, using equipment from the 21CN preferred suppliers. In addition, BT staff are currently testing services across the IP network between Multi-Service Access Nodes (MSANs). This is part of the comprehensive 21CN testing programme during which more than half a million tests will be conducted in the countdown to the first end user lines being migrated in the Cardiff area in November 2006, as the first stage of the 21CN migration plan commences.
This initial migration phase will conclude in June 2007 and will be followed by a period of industry review and testing ahead of national migration, currently scheduled to begin in January 2008.It was recently reported that BT will begin the long process of rolling out 21CN during November this year, although this will take sometime to complete as per above.