BT brings rural areas faster broadband connection
UK homes without broadband service yet will now benefit from the new piloted BT technology. The Broadband Enabling Technology (BET) provides up to 2 Mbps for homes, eliminating the struggles for slow internet speed of dial-up.
In sync with the government’s commitment to provide broadband to UK homes by 2012, over 3 million households belonging to the “notspots” will surely get connections with BET.
This development came after a successful trial of the same technology in Scotland carried out by Openreach, the BT arm in the country. For the said trial period, a wider coverage was served to the once notspots in the rural Scotland towns. Homes in the area are now served with speedier broadband connection. The same trial will be conducted in eight more locations which will include West Midlands, West Sussex, Norfolk and Berkshire.
Soon, homes outside of the 12-kilometer area distance from telephone services in the area will get broadband service, decreasing largely the number of notspots in the region.
John Small, Openreach managing director for service delivery, echoed foreseen positive outcome of getting more notspots connected. He said the company is working out details with different area authorities to effectively implement the technology.
Forrester analyst Ian Fogg expressed his view on BET, saying it is an evolution, not a panacea that offers modest download speeds.
Despite the seemingly bright future to have notspots finally have broadband service, some groups and individuals remain skeptical about the BT move. Cumbria resident and advocate for improved broadband, Lindsey Annison, said that broadband is not the problem and it’s impractical to bring such advanced communications to rural areas.
Other groups expressed the same sentiments that a telephone company with sufficient experience should not be providing such a solution. It is unclear, however, what alternative positions these groups and individual users demand.
