Telecoms provider BT today announced plans to roll out 'super-fast' broadband to as many as 10 million homes by 2012.
This would cut the time of downloading a DVD-quality movie from 2hrs and 15 minutes to 13 minutes.
The landline, mobile and internet provider claim the proposed £1.5billion investment in fibre-based services will deliver top speeds of up to 100 Mbps (megabits per second).
In practise the average speed would be 40Mbps, which is still a huge leap from current broadband speeds.
The standard advertised broadband speed in the UK is 8Mbps. However, a recent survey by uSwitch found the the average speed is actually 4Mbps. This is far less than Japan's average of 64Mbps and France's 18Mbps.
BT Chief executive Ian Livingston said by getting speeds 10 times the average - family members could watch a high definition movie on demand, play
BT engineers
BT engineers plan to install miles of fibre cables
interactive games on a network and work on a complex video presentation at the same time.
Current broadband demands copper wires designed for analogue telephones transform into a conduit for digital services, and UK infrastructures are unable to cope with this.
Cable broadband, supplied via a fibre optic network, is not affected by this issue, hence the potential for a huge leap in connection speed.
The actual speed delivered by the new service will depend on such factors as where you’re connecting from and the equipment you’re using.
BT described the move to 'super-fast' broadband was a bold step but said the investment was dependent on a 'supportive and enduring' regulatory environment.
This could mean that BT want a competitive advantage if they invest in a fibre cable infrastructure, charging premium prices to other broadband providers who want to use the lines.
BT said it planned discussions with regulator Ofcom to determine the framework it believes is necessary to enable the programme to progress.
'These include removing current barriers to investment and making sure that anyone who chooses to invest in fibre can earn a fair rate of return for their shareholders,' BT said.
Ofcom said it planned to publish further proposals on the regulatory framework for next generation access networks in September.
While this will also lead to a greater discrepancy between the city folk and those poor country dwellers I think that the impact of this will be immense on our every day lives.
Streaming of HD TV services will become a breeze, and you will probably not notice any affect on the rest of your downloading while this service is being streamed. If only all our hard drives could be increased by 10x capacity...
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