BT Group PLC
03 April 2003
NR0313 April 3, 2003
BT IN BROADBAND BREAKTHROUGH
• ADSL broadband to be brought within reach of 90 per cent of UK homes
• Wholesale prices to be cut
• Support for more public sector partnerships to accelerate demand
BT today announced great news for Broadband Britain with radical plans to bring
mass market broadband within reach of 90 per cent of UK homes. These plans are
based on technological breakthroughs and cost saving initiatives. The company
also revealed that wholesale prices will be cut from May 1.
In addition, BT said that public sector demand could be aligned to help
accelerate the roll out of broadband. This will help local campaign groups in
their efforts to bring broadband to their communities.
Providing a major update on the company's broadband strategy, BT chief executive
Ben Verwaayen said that BT was well on track to hit its target of one million
ADSL connections by the summer, having recently passed the 800,000 mark. He said
the speed of this progress is generating economies of scale that will help BT
continue to reduce costs and progress beyond the one million figure.
Technological Breakthroughs
He also announced that BT had made a series of technological breakthroughs that
would, for the first time, bring ADSL within potential reach of 90 per cent of
UK homes and small businesses. This represents a major advance from the current
enabled footprint of 67 per cent.
The new initiatives mean that about 600 additional exchanges can now have
trigger levels set taking potential coverage to 90 per cent. These represent the
level of demand needed to make it commercially sensible for BT to take the risk
of upgrading an exchange with ADSL. Within a week BT will announce trigger
levels for the next 200 or so exchanges that, if enabled together with those
exchanges that have existing trigger levels, would take coverage up to 85 per
cent. The remainder will be announced by early summer.
Central to the setting of the new triggers is a technological development that
enables exchanges to be linked together so that the costs of connecting them to
the core BT network are reduced. This is one of several developments that will
lead to cost savings and help BT set the new trigger levels.
This is in addition to BT extending the reach of ADSL broadband up to 6kms from
the exchange. This separate development means that up to 98 per cent of people
connected to an ADSL enabled exchange will be able to access the technology.
This means close to 600,000 additional people will be able to access broadband
from June.
BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen said: "Today's announcements mark a major
milestone in the creation of Broadband Britain. BT has managed to overcome the
challenge of bringing affordable broadband within reach of 90 per cent of UK
homes and I am sure the news will be welcomed across the UK."
Prices slashed
He also revealed that BT would boost the market even further by cutting the
wholesale price of broadband from May 1. This is possible due to factors
including reduced cost of equipment and network efficiencies. The monthly fee
for the wholesale consumer product will be reduced by up to £2 and there will be
even larger savings on BT's wholesale products that are aimed at service
providers who serve small businesses. Prices for the 500kbs, 1Mbs and 2Mbs
products will be slashed by over 50 per cent.
Mr Verwaayen said: "These price cuts will benefit everyone from service
providers to consumers and businesses and will ensure that the UK continues to
have some of the lowest prices in Europe."
Public sector action
BT said that the purchasing power of the public sector could drive demand even
faster. This would reinforce BT's efforts to accelerate take up and roll out
within the 90 per cent footprint and help get beyond it.
In particular, BT said that government plans to enable schools and GP's
surgeries with broadband would benefit the whole community if implemented in a
way that helps reduce trigger levels in non-enabled exchanges. This would speed
up the roll out of ADSL and bring the benefits of broadband to a far wider
audience than just the public sector. It would also be in alignment with the
government's over-riding objective of having the most extensive and competitive
mass market for broadband in the G7.
Mr Verwaayen added: "The challenge ahead is to ensure that exchanges hit their
trigger levels as quickly as possible. The registration scheme has been a
runaway success with more than 300,000 expressions of interest and it will be
boosted significantly as the government starts to bring broadband to every
school and GP's surgery."
BT also highlighted the success of public private partnerships. Several of these
have been developed - notably in Cornwall and Scotland - and the impact has
shown how successful they can be in driving take-up. BT hopes that further
partnerships can be replicated widely.
Other technologies
One scheme where such support could work is BT's Exchange Activate programme.
This innovative scheme - to bring broadband to smaller exchanges - will be
launched this summer following successful trials. It will be useful in extending
availability to the UK's smallest communities.
BT also stressed that, as well as launching Exchange Activate, the company was
working hard to develop other solutions to bring mass market broadband to every
part of the UK. Options being explored include satellite, mesh radio and other
forms of wireless broadband.
Mr Verwaayen concluded by saying: "2003 could be a seminal year in the drive to
achieve Broadband Britain but only if the whole industry pulls together with the
support of the government. Such an approach would benefit consumers, businesses
and the UK itself."
---------------------
Notes To Editors
BT Wholesale has notified several price changes that will come into effect from
May 1, 2003. Among these are reductions in the monthly rental fees for its
IPStream Home 500 and IPStream Office range of products (listed below). There
will also be a discount scheme. Connection charges for IPStream end users will
remain unchanged.
Product Current monthly fee New monthly fee
IPStream Home 500 £14.75 £13.00
IPStream Office 500 £40 £18
IPStream Office 1000 £60 £28
IPStream Office 2000 £80 £38
Inquiries about this news release should be made to the BT Group Newsroom on
its 24-hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK, dial + 44 20 7356 5369.
All BT Group news releases can be accessed at our web site:
www.btplc.com/mediacentre
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.