The Managing Director (MD) of UK BT Business, Nigel Stagg, has spoken of his belief that businesses in Wales will have a better 2010 than 2009/8, thanks to faster Internet connections. Stagg remarks that this improvement will come from the operators rollout of 21st Century Network (21CN) technology alongside its newer ‘up to’ 24Mbps ADSL2+ and superfast 40Mbps fibre optic ( FTTC ) broadband products.

Stagg added that BT currently has 700 business Ethernet connection points in the UK, including in locations such as North Wales, Bangor, Conwy, Caernarfon and Wrexham. ADSL2+ based consumer and business broadband services were also now enabled in Connah’s Quay and Wrexham, with more towns set to follow.

However Stagg was keenest to plug the operators Fibre-to-the-Cabinet ( FTTC ) technology, which will deliver download speeds of 'up to' 40Mbps (60Mbps in the future) and uploads of 2Mbps to 15Mbps. BT hopes to reach 10m UK homes and businesses by 2012 with its FTTC and 100Mbps FTTH fibre optic broadband technology.


FTTC delivers a fast fibre optic link to the operator’s street level cabinets, while the remaining connection - between cabinets and homes - is done using VDSL or VDSL2 (similar to current ADSL broadband but faster in short distances) over existing copper cable. This is cheaper but means that performance can be more variable, though many wouldn’t sniff at a minimum download speed of around 10Mbps.

Sadly Wales will only see 5 out of approximately 100 initial BT FTTC exchanges (here and here), which are due to be upgraded during the first half of 2010. These include telephone exchanges in Barry, Caerphilly, Penarth, Cardiff and Taffs Well (Rhondda Cynon Taf). It's worth pointing out that the Taffs Well exchange is a rural location and will act as somewhat of an experiment for economic viability. Indeed both Taffs Well and Cardiff should be among the first two to go live during the start of this New Year.