The BT Group (UK) will not be going back to areas that already have its new 'up to' 40Mbps capable "super-fast" Fibre-to-the-Cabinet ( FTTC ) broadband ISP service and putting in faster 100Mbps+ Fibre-to-the-Premises ( FTTP / FTTH ) at a later date because it sees FTTC as "future proof".


BT had previously reported that its FTTC service would eventually benefit from a maximum download speed boost from 40Mbps (current) to 60Mbps, with upload performance rising from 10Mbps (current) to 15Mbps.

However "last mile" DSL technology, which manage the final connection between cabinets and homes/businesses, continues to improve. For example, DSL Rings technology (here and here) could affordably deliver symmetric speeds of 150Mbps in the not too distant future via FTTC.

In light of this it's easy to see why BT would feel less inclined to deploy FTTP beyond its current commitment; 2.5 million homes (combined FTTC / FTTP rollout of 10 million [40% of premises]) by 2012. Overall the operator is spending £2.5bn to bring its 40-100Mbps services to 66% of homes and businesses in the UK by 2015.

However DSL based FTTC solutions will never be as good or reliable as a fully fibre optic broadband connection, yet BT alone would not have the cash to deploy that kind of service to everybody. On the other hand even South Korea's 100Mbps network still averages roughly 30Mbps due to capacity constraints. Not to mention that most online services cannot take advantage of such speeds.