Broadband News

Openreach expands superfast fibre for flats offer

Friday 27 January, 2012

By Kelvin Goodson

Apartment block landlords and residents encouraged to register for 100Mb broadband trial.

Openreach is expanding a trial that will bring the fastest broadband in the country to blocks of flats.

Residents and landlords of apartment buildings are being encouraged to register their interest in the pilot scheme.

Openreach, the division of BT responsible for nationwide communications infrastructure, is looking for 1,000 blocks to take part. These will be chosen through a combination of demand, co-operation and cost.

Those taking part in the scheme will get access to Openreach’s fibre to the premises (FTTP) service, where fibre is connected directly to the building, rather than to the nearest street cabinet or exchange.

Users will initially have access to speeds of up to 100Mb, with an option to get up to 300Mb by spring - the fastest home broadband speed available in the UK. Upload speeds will also be the fastest in the country.

Mike Galvin, Openreach managing director for next-generation access, said: “We are keen to extend the benefits of our fastest broadband services to those living in apartments.

“Through our registration scheme customers are clearly showing us they now seek these higher speeds and see the provision of superfast broadband as a significant benefit. We are factoring customer demand into our future deployment plans, but are also keen to partner with landlords and involve them in our plans.”

Openreach has been conducting early trials in areas with FTTP and began asking residents and landlords in Canary Wharf, London, to register their interest late last year.

Residents can register their interest in the scheme at www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/resident and landlords at www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/landlord.

KC, the only broadband provider in the Hull area, announced last week that it plans to provide access to 100Mb broadband to 15,000 homes in Hull and East Yorkshire this year.