Openreach pilot to take broadband extra mile

Openreach announced a pilot of its Broadband Enabling Technology (BET), a new fixed-line solution for delivering broadband over much longer distances. The technology could play a major role in delivering broadband to current “not spots” – i.e. homes that are currently too far away from their local exchange to receive a broadband service – and thereby help the Government achieve its aims for a Digital Britain.

BET is capable of delivering a stable broadband service over lines that are up to 12km away from the exchange. This is more than double the current 5km limit for broadband.

Initial trials in Inverness and Dingwall, Scotland have been very successful, with lines of between 7km and 12km running stable 1Mb/s services. Where a second copper line is available, lines can be bonded together to provide a 2Mb/s service.

If there is funding to help meet the additional costs involved in deploying the technology, BET could offer a reliable and cost-effective solution to assist the Government’s ambition of delivering a minimum 2Mb/s service to virtually all UK homes.

As part of the initial pilot, Openreach – the part of BT responsible for deploying the technology - will be rolling out the technology to a small number of lines in eight locations across the country. These sites are in addition to the existing trial sites in Inverness and Dingwall.

The BET equipment for the pilot is being installed by Openreach free of charge and the service will be available to UK communications providers on a fair and equal basis. The pilot will commence on 30th September.

Openreach will be contacting selected customers in each area to invite them to sign up to the pilot. Participating customers will then need to pay their chosen communications provider for their broadband service, as with a standard broadband arrangement.
Openreach is also looking to work with potential partners to identify funding opportunities to allow the technology to be deployed on a wider, commercial basis from early next year.

John Small, Managing Director, Service Delivery, Openreach said: “We’re really excited about the potential of BET to extend broadband to the remaining not-spots. Thanks to BT’s past investment, the UK already boasts world leading broadband availability. By rolling out BET, we can help customers and assist the Government to realise its aim for a universal 2Mb/s broadband service.

“We’re keen to work with local and regional authorities and other bodies with funding to discuss how the technology can be rolled out to their areas.”

Copper lines that are more than 5km long are generally unable to support a broadband service, as the broadband signal degrades with distance. BET, which is based on an existing business-class broadband service, is capable of boosting the broadband signal to up to 12km. The BET equipment has been designed to deliver speeds of up to 1Mb/s or 2Mb/s downstream and up to 1Mb/s upstream.

BET offers a more reliable solution for delivering broadband to not-spot areas than mobile or satellite technologies. Customers using these technologies to access broadband have to share the available capacity with other users, often resulting in lower than advertised speeds. In contrast, BET uses a dedicated copper line so customers do not share the capacity and can therefore receive consistently good, stable speeds.