BT sees ADSL connections rocket
Telco beats two-million target as total connections double in eight months
BT has already exceeded two million wholesale Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) connections, a target it originally set for the end of this year, the company has said.
This means BT has doubled its total connections in eight months, from one million in mid-2003. The telco claimed its registration scheme, introduced in July 2002, which maps the extension of ADSL to areas with proven demand, "helped match investment to demand".
This enabled it to roll out broadband services more quickly than otherwise would have been possible.
BT said two major price cuts in the wholesale market over the past year-and-a-half had also contributed to the market's growth.
A BT representative told vnunet.com's sister title CRN that 2,345 of its local exchanges had been upgraded to broadband, making the service available to 85 per cent of all homes and businesses in the UK.
That figure is expected to rise to 90 per cent by mid-year, as another 800 exchanges are upgraded.
Keith Humphreys, managing consultant at EuroLAN Research, said: "Resellers need to be able to offer solutions.
"For example, the combination of a Cisco Router and Microsoft's Small Business Server 2003 Cisco announced would be even better if someone could bundle broadband with it. That's the obvious thing missing.
"That said, ISDN replacement is still an opportunity for the channel. Companies such as FastWeb are selling broadband into Multi Tenancy Units and offering broadband to 'mom and pop' stores."