697BT’s Superfast Network under Scrutiny from Potential Partners
posted on January 14th, 2010
BT has received positive inputs from Carphone Warehouse and Sky with respect to its superfast broadaband network that is expected to be completed by 2012, as against the previous estimation of 2013. Both the companies form a part of the prospective customer base for the wholesale products of broadband and have been suggesting improvements in the plan for higher efficiency and better output.
The £1.5bn plan is expected to provide the customers with an unprecedented download speed that will be as many as ten times higher than the present networks. However, no wholesale deals with operators have been reached yet.
Talking to the Financial Times, Sky’s deputy head of strategy Dougal Scott suggested that the provider is willing to support BT by giving suggestions on improvements in the trial product. He also added that BT would need to work a little in the direction of making the product attractive for the prospective partners in order to receive the expected returns on the investment.
As of now, TalkTalk (Carphone Warehouse) as well as Sky are not quite certain about the capability of BT’s network (to be provided by Openreach) in accommodating the needs of competitors and enable them to offer varied products. According to Charles Dunstone, Carphone’s chief executive, the product being offered by Openreach right now does not have the potential to hold the market.
A BT spokesman responded to the statement by saying that BT has conducted a successful pilot and it is confident that the product is ready to offer the promised flexibility, reliability, and above all, speed. However, if the market demands, Openreach would be ready to introduce more flexibility.
For information on your ISP and corresponding broadband speed, try using the broadband check from Broadband Genie to get a snapshot of your current download and upload speeds. It is a good site to compare broadband deals from the top internet service providers such as Virgin Media Broadband and BT Broadband.