Having announced plans to invest £1.5 billion in a fibre-optic infrastructure that will bring the nation's broadband up to speed, BT today took the next big step by announcing the first 29 exchanges on course for a fibre upgrade.
BT's 29 chosen locations - of which 27 are urban - will be undergoing the upgrade process in 2010. Although precise activation dates remain unknown, BT's Openreach division will deploy the fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) technology early next year - bringing users downstream speeds of up to 60Mb/s, and upstream speeds of up to 10Mb/s.
FTTC - a technology in which ultra-thin fibre optic cables are run from an exchange to street-housed cabinets - promises the large increase in performance by drastically cutting the length of copper wire used in broadband delivery. Though copper wire will remain in use between customer premises and the fibre-upgraded cabinets, its distance will be short enough to allow for higher-frequency signals.
Looking ahead, BT's investment hopes to ensure that 40 per cent of UK homes and businesses can make use of fibre-based services by 2012. Its next set of FTTC locations are expected to be announced in Autumn.
BT's complete list of exchanges to be upgraded in early 2010 is as follows:
| CHELMSFORD | Essex | East of England |
| ST. ALBANS | Hertfordshire | East of England |
| WATFORD | Hertfordshire | East of England |
| HEMEL HEMPSTEAD | Hertfordshire | East of England |
| LEAGRAVE | Bedfordshire | East of England |
| LUTON | Bedfordshire | East of England |
| CANONBURY | London | London |
| CHINGFORD | London | London |
| EDMONTON | London | London |
| ENFIELD | London | London |
| HIGHAMS PARK | London | London |
| TOTTENHAM | London | London |
| THAMESMEAD | London | London |
| WOOLWICH | London | London |
| BURY | Greater Manchester | North West |
| DIDSBURY | Greater Manchester | North West |
| FAILSWORTH | Greater Manchester | North West |
| HEATON MOOR | Greater Manchester | North West |
| OLDHAM | Greater Manchester | North West |
| RUSHOLME | Greater Manchester | North West |
| BELFAST BALMORAL | Belfast | Northern Ireland |
| DEAN | Edinburgh | Scotland |
| GLASGOW HALFWAY | Glasgow | Scotland |
| GLASGOW WESTERN | Glasgow | Scotland |
| CARDIFF | Cardiff | Wales |
| TAFFS WELL | Rhondda Cynon Taf | Wales |
| HALIFAX | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and Humber |
| PUDSEY | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and Humber |
| CALDER VALLEY | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and Humber |
