British Telecom has today confirmed its original target of introducing superfast broadband to the UK by 2013 has now been realigned to 2012 and will be ready for the UK Olympics. This is a major shift within BT broadband although the £1.5 billion superfast broadband network is well underway. So what will this mean for the UK?
It is estimated that over 10 million homes in the UK will have access to the new network before the Olympics start and a significant majority of these homes will have access to 100 Mb per second connectivity which will allow them to watch high-definition video online. This is a major step forward for the UK broadband sector and if BT broadband can pull this one off it will be a major feather in the company’s cap.
The very fact that BT has shortened the time scale for the introduction of superfast broadband to the UK will place more pressure on the likes of Virgin broadband, Sky broadband and other leaders in the sector. While there will inevitably be an increase in costs associated with consumer broadband contracts, consumers should benefit from increased competition and the forthcoming jump in broadband speeds. The UK broadband sector is about to enter a very different and very exciting era.