Posted: 04th Jul, 2005 By: MarkJ
The people of Cardiff and the surrounding area will be the first in the UK to try phone calls, broadband and Ethernet services over BTs 21st Century Network (21CN). The migration of customer lines to the new infrastructure is expected to begin during the second half of 2006:
BT will migrate around 350,000 customer lines in the area, including many served by other telephone and internet service providers and mobile operators. The experience and customer feedback from the first mass customer migration project will help BT finalise plans to roll out 21CN to customers across the UK by the end of the decade.
21CN will enable BT and the rest of the communications industry to deliver a new generation of compelling, converged communications services designed to make the personal and professional lives of people more flexible and businesses more efficient. It will give customers greater control over the way they choose to use communications services in the future.
This major milestone in BTs 21CN programme will require the replacement of equipment in more than 50 local exchanges and the implementation of new IT systems to underpin the delivery of services to customers. Before services go live over the new infrastructure, all exchange sites in the area will be assessed for power supply, space and logistics planning.
Three new metro nodes, or super telephone exchanges, are to be developed in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, with a further 10 new transmission sites also developed across the region.
21CN is the worlds most radical next generation network transformation programme, requiring an investment by BT of up to £10 billion by the end of the decade.