BT Spreads Fibre, Tests White Space For Broadband

BT has announced a test of “white space” spectrum for rural broadband, while adding 66 new locations to its fibre network.

The use of white space – gaps in the TV spectrum – follows the launch this week of Neul, a startup offering network equipment and technology designed for white space use, and the acknowledgement that fibre can never economically cover 100 percent of the UK’s population.

Another million homes served

BT Openreach will link fibre to 66 new exchanges, during the course of 2012, which could between them serve up to a million more homes and businesses, according to the BT release. The list includes unsurprising arease such as Holborn, Waterloo, Euston and Kings Cross, along with Skipton, Derby, Norwich and Eastbourne.

BT has a £2.5 billion programme which will include more than 1,000 exchanges, 30,000 roadside cabinets and 50,000km of fibre.

BT is facing competition in fibre networks from Virgin Media, which is connecting mostly urban areas, and Fujitsu, which has a plan for more urban areas.

Meanwhile, mobile operators such as Vodafone and satellite operators have warned against over-reliance on fibre networks which can never completely cover the territory.

Now alongside those offerings comes white space networking, which uses the channels reserved for TV broadcasting – picking those which are not in use in any given area – to provide wide area networking with speeds up to 10Mbps.

Solution where fibre can’t reach

BT’s trial in the Isle of Bute also involves the University of Strathclyde and the BBC, and is backed by funding from the government’s Technology Strategy Board. Openreach’s release says it sees white space as a possible solution where fibre can’t reach, and properties can only get less than 2Mbps over their copper phone line.

The trial is expected to start in July with about a dozen end users, linked by a white space radio system to the exchange at Kilchattan Bay.

“The final ten percent of the UK is going to be the hardest to reach with fixed line super-fast broadband and so we are busy trialling other technologies,” said Liv Garfield, CEO for Openreach.” One of these is based on white space and I’m glad to say the initial results are very encouraging. It’s early days but our hope is that this technology may provide an effective solution for ‘not spots’ and ‘slow spots’.”