TalkTalk plans for 90 per cent fibre broadband UK coverage

Broadband and homephone service provider, TalkTalk has revealed its plans to unbundle 300 exchanges in addition to the ISP’s existing 1,700 unbundled, phone exchanges.

The ISP says that the unbundling of new exchanges will increase the coverage of its own fibre network from 80% to 90%.

Local loop unbundling (LLU) is the process by which non-BT broadband ISP providers setup their own network and install their equipment at BT’s exchanges to offer their own services tailored to meet the needs of their customers. Unbundling helps the ISPs to provide high-speed broadband at affordable prices and also enhances competition which is always seen good from customers’ point of view.

TalkTalk is the largest LLU provider in UK followed by O2 (along with BE), Sky and other service providers. Recently, the ISP has also announced its plans to boost speeds (24Mbps) and capacity of its network to provide better consumer experience even at peak hours.

The growing popularity of online TV and video services like BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and YouTube is the driving force behind the unusual surge in internet usage, says TalkTalk blog. The capacity of networks also needs to be upgraded to meet the increasing data traffic which, the ISP predicts, ‘will increase by a whopping 50% year on year over the next few years.’

TalkTalk, which has ditched Tiscali TV and its broadband division after the merger, has also tied up with Channel 4 to launch a new internet based TV service, Canvas that will offer on demand videos and TV programmes to its customers.