BT announces 303 exchanges for its fibre broadband rollout

UK service provider BT released a new list of 303 exchanges that will get upgrade to 40Mbps service during its £1.5bn fibre based broadband rollout.

The largest ISP has planned to provide high-speed internet services to 10 million homes by the middle of 2012. All the sites which are included in the latest list will be activated before next summer to connect more than 4 million customer with its fibre to the cabinet networks.

Earlier, BT released the details of the deployment in four phases: around 161 exchanges were chosen for the upgrade and including the recent list of locations, there will be a total of 464 exchanges that will delilver fibre optic broadband to the customers.

Despite’s BT’s efforts and big investment plans, only 40% of UK homes will get the benefits by the time the rollout is completed. BT’s selection of the sites have also dissappointed the locals who live in areas which were igored for the reason that they are not commercially viable.

Recently, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown indicated the importance of governement intervention and regulations to assure that everyone gets the benefits of fibre broadband including rural and remote areas.

Ofcom, the UK telecom regulator has also asked the ISPs to extend the next generation broadband coverage in UK with its plans of leaving BT’s fibre networks and ducts open to all ISPs without discrimination.