BT begins to deliver on 100Mbps broadband promise
BT has started rolling out its 100Mbps broadband services to ten exchanges across the UK.
The service, marketed as BT Infinity option three, will give subscribers up to 100Mbps download speeds with up to 15Mbps upload.
"We are delighted to launch BT Infinity option three, which offers our fastest-ever speeds for consumers. We are seeing very encouraging take-up of our fibre-based broadband and we now have more than 300,000 customers," John Petter, managing director of BT's consumer division said on Tuesday.
The service comes with "unlimited" data usage and costs £35 per month with an 18-month contract.
Unlike other BT Infinity products which offer maximum speeds of 40Mbps downstream using fibre-to-the-cabinet technology, the 100Mbps service will use fibre-to-the-premises in order to deliver the faster speeds.
The service will initially be available to "some streets" served by exchanges in: Ashford, Bradwell Abbey, Chester South, Exeter, Forest Hill, Highams Park, Ilford Central, Leytonstone, St Austell and York. Eligible customers served by these exchanges will also be able to sign up to the FTTC 40Mbps service instead, BT said.
The company did not disclose the number of premises eligible to sign-up for the 100Mbps service at the time of writing. BT had not responded to a request for more information at the time of writing.
The announcement follows trials of the technology in six of the ten named locations, although BT had previously said it would be an up to 110Mbps service.
At the beginning of October, BT said it would begin using FTTP technology to deliver up to 300Mbps download speeds in 2012, and noted that it was already trialling speeds of up to 1Gbps in Kesgrave, Suffolk.
The addition of the 100Mbps service is a part of BT's pledge to spend £2.5bn in bringing fibre-based broadband to two-thirds of UK premises.
Super-fast broadband rival Virgin Media began offering customers packages with download speeds of up to 100Mbps in December 2010 using its cable-based service.