BT reveals latest phase of fibre broadband roll-out in Shropshire
Internet users in Market Drayton, Hollinswood, Madeley and Woodside will benefit from the latest phase of BT’s £2.5 billion roll-out of fibre broadband across the UK.
Openreach, BT’s local network business, will upgrade Market Drayton, Holinswood and Cuckoo Oak exchanges with the technology before or during Spring next year.
BT has now confirmed around 1,700 exchange areas across the UK which will make up the bulk of its commercial fibre footprint. The company is now beginning to identify additional exchanges that it will enable with the assistance of its Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) partners.
Mike Galvin, Managing Director, NGA, Openreach, said: “The UK is making great progress with super-fast broadband and this latest phase of work will keep up the momentum. Speeds are increasing all the time with the UK second only to Japan within the G8. I am sure that communities across the UK will be pleased to see that they are factored into our commercial plans and I now look forward to working with councils to identify further areas that we can enable with their support.”
“Our fibre deployment continues to gather pace. Our engineers are working round the clock to hit our ambitious target of reaching two thirds of UK premises with fibre during Spring 2014 – at least eighteen months ahead of the original timetable. The work doesn’t stop there however as we are also helping to roll out fibre to other parts of the country working in partnership with local authorities as part of the BDUK activity.”
BT’s commercial fibre network is already the largest in the UK, reaching more than 13 million premises. When complete, BT’s engineers will have installed tens of thousands of fibre cabinets, enabled around 1,700 exchanges and laid more than 50,000 kilometres of fibre cables across the country.
According to the regulator Ofcom, the current average UK broadband speed is 9Mbps.
