Telecoms operator BT has announced that a raft of rural towns and villages in Wales will be among the latest to benefit from their continuing rollout of faster "advanced copper broadband" ( ADSL2+ ) services, which ultimately aims to cover 90% of the UK (22.5 million premises) by the end of Spring 2013.

The latest update, which is NOT to be confused with BT's additional £2.5bn deployment of fibre optic based superfast broadband ( BT-Infinity , FTTC , FTTP ) services, means that 130,000 homes and businesses should benefit from faster speeds. In all some 43 telephone exchanges [ED: awaiting correct figure from BT] are listed as part of BT's latest rollout update (only 33 listed below thanks to the BBC News), which are all due to be completed by the summer of 2012.

BT's Latest ADSL2 Telephone Exchange Upgrades
Menai Bridge
Cardigan
Aberystwyth
Gresford
Old Colwyn
Rhos on Sea
Denbigh
Ruthin
Saundersfoot
Burry Port
Llandybie
Kidwelly
Milford Haven
Blaenavon
Monmouth
Talywain
Gilwern
Tywyn
Amlwch
Valley
Abercynon
Ferndale
Mountain Ash
Treorchy
Builth Wells
Llanidloes
Llandrindod Wells
Newtown
Glantawe
Brecon
Cowbridge
Gowerton
Bishopston

At present ADSL2+ technology from BT covers almost 80% (20 million premises) of the UK and claims to deliver top speeds of 20-24Mbps (Megabits per second). Sadly ADSL2+ is a highly variable technology and anybody whom already receives sub-1Mbps speeds via an existing up to 8Mbps ( ADSL ) line won't see much of an improvement (if any).

So far TalkTalk is the only other UK ISP to target a similar level of ADSL2+ coverage and is already sitting just shy of the 90% figure with its cheaper unbundled ( LLU ) ADSL2+ broadband network. Many other LLU ISPs ( O2 , Sky Broadband etc. ) currently cover around 78-85% of the UK.

We hope to have a full list of BT's latest exchange upgrades just as soon as their PR team wake up to share it.