British Telecom has announced that it will launch a new Gigabit home broadband service later this month. The full-fibre offering will form the foundation of a new set of plans for consumers, with the average customer being able to enjoy speeds of up to 25x that of its Superfast Fibre products. Currently BT Full Fibre products max out at an average of 300Mbps downstream, and its lower tier SuperFast Fibre offerings at 67Mbps.
Bolstering the news of the launch is its sheer scale. The new best-in-class broadband experience will roll out and become available "in hundreds of cities, towns and villages across the UK". Particular cities name-checked include; Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, London and Manchester. By the end of this month BT's Gigabit service will be available to more than 2 million households. At launch it will be the biggest full-fibre network in the UK. Furthermore, BT's plans include the ambition to reach around half of the homes in the UK with its full fibre network by 2025.
BT says it will provide further information in the coming weeks, answering crucial questions on pricing and availability for both existing and new customers. It invites those interested in the Gigabit service to register their interest at www.bt.com/full-fibre-interest.
BT's move seems to closely coincide with Virgin's Gig1 Fibre expansion. In February HEXUS reported upon Virgin Media's plans to expand the reach of its Gig1 Fibre products from 2m to 3m potential users, with network upgrades centred on the West Midlands area. Virgin Media's base price for Gig1 Fibre (no phone or other complementary services) is £62pcm.
