BT Promotes new FTTC technology and ADSL2 enabled exchanges in Wales

Nigel Stagg, the managing director of the Business side of BTs broadband division talked this week about how he believes the 2010 will be a great year for Welsh businesses due to the expansion of high speed broadband technology in the area. He believes that BTs focus on rolling out Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology alongside the continued focus on enabling exchanges with ADSL2 technology.

ADSL2 gained much popularity last year in the United Kingdom allowing many previously 8 Mbps packages to upgrade to 24 Mbps thanks to better technology. However, ADSL2+ is still a DSL technology and therefore remains completely dependent on your distance from your exchange the quality of your phone lines.

FTTC is by far a more exciting technology and one that Stagg was most eager to push, stating that the speeds delivered by FTTC will be ?an incredible difference to what firms will experience? in terms of their broadband connections.

FTTC still uses phone cables to connect the service to a home, but the main connection is actually fibre optic, resulting in speeds of up to 40 Mbps for business and residential connections with the ability to upgrade to a line as fast as 60 Mbps in the future. Plus, your distance from the exchange shouldn?t affect your speed at all, just like with regular cable services offered by Virgin Media.

However, while Cardiff will be one of the first cities to experience a proper roll out of FTTC technology and the rural community of Taff?s Well will be one of the smallest areas to gain access to fibre optic technology; there actual number of the FTTC exchanges across all of Wales in 2010 is only 5, while the company plans to rollout 100 exchanges across the United Kingdom as a whole.

Still, the introduction of FTTC anywhere is good news, and the promised 60 Mbps should be enough to have many small businesses eagerly waiting for the day their local exchange is activated for FTTC.

Recent Broadband Stories