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BT invites more businesses to trial 40Mb broadband

Wednesday 04 November 2009 1 Comment

BT Business has announced the launch of its third super-fast broadband trial today taking place in Glasgow Halfway.

Free to eligible business customers in the exchange area the fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) trial will give local businesses the chance to sample download speeds of up to 40Mb and upstream speeds of 2Mb until the end of March 2010.

The launch of this trial comes alongside new research from BT Business which found 61 per cent of SMEs consider faster broadband to have a positive impact on their businesses. Taken from a sample of 7, 200 small and medium businesses by BT Business during September 2009 the provider found 28 per cent of firms already use faster broadband to expand their website capabilities. Additionally, another 25 per cent make the most of their faster internet connection by employing more bandwidth-hungry technology.

The trials, which have already been established in Muswell Hill, London and Whitchurch, Cardiff, are part of BT Group's first major investment program into super-fast broadband. The provider has pledged to spend £1.5 billion by 2012 to ensure 40 per cent of UK homes and business (around 10 million properties) will be able to make use of fibre-based broadband.

To mark the start of the trial, in the New Year Glasgow BT Local Business will be offering interested firms a chance to view a demonstration of their speedier broadband using a show pod. Businesses keen to find out more about the trial service can call BT Local Business on 0800 6335606 for more information.
 

 

Comments

  • neutral

    by Chris Stening, MD, Easynet Connect at 14:53 on 9 Nov 2009Report abuse

    BT's latest 'superfast' broadband trials are a step in the right direction for businesses, but because they are asymmetrical (i.e. upload speeds are not the same as download), they don't go far enough, particularly for small businesses that now use the internet for much more than browsing the web and downloading attachments. Their need for symmetrical internet connections such as SDSL, bonded SDSL or leased lines that offer identical speeds in both directions is rapidly increasing. Online software such as Salesforce and Google Apps are being used more and more by businesses every day and VoIP, video conferencing and even online backup services also require high upload speeds to work effectively.

    While not every small business needs a symmetrical connection right now, business ISPs have a duty to offer these types of connections to those that need them today, and not just in trial form. Demand for symmetrical internet connections is set to grow significantly as these tools become more popular.

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