BT adds 178 exchanges to superfast broadband club

Is your exchange on the list to join the fibre rollout?

BT has announced the latest swathe of exchanges that will get superfast broadband as part of its £2.5bn fibre upgrade programme to bring faster broadband speeds to two-thirds of UK premises by 2014.

The telco is rolling out fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband to the majority of exchanges in its upgrade programme – a technology which currently supports broadband download speeds of up to 40Mbps but which BT says will be capable of supporting up to 80Mbps next year, and possibly more than 100Mbps in future.

A further 178 exchanges to join the rollout were named by BT today – click through to page two to see the list – including 17 locations in Cornwall that will be upgraded as part of a European Union-backed up to 100Mbps rollout announced last year.

More than 30 Scottish exchanges also make the list this time.

BT said the majority of the 178 exchanges will be fibre-enabled next year, covering more than 1.8 million homes and businesses. However not all premises in a named exchange area will be able to get access to faster broadband speeds immediately. The telco said a "small minority" of premises are likely to be excluded initially - owing to "current network topography" and "the economics of deployment".

It added that it is actively looking at alternative options for these locations.

Once all the exchanges BT has currently earmarked for an upgrade are fibre-enabled – including the 178 named today, and all previous fibre exchange announcements - BT's access division, Openreach, will have completed around 80 per cent of the fibre upgrade programme, the telco said.

More than six million UK premises already have access to BT's fibre-fuelled faster broadband, according to Openreach. Olivia Garfield, CEO of Openreach, said the division is on track to pass ten million premises next year. "We will make fibre available to two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014 and we want to go even further," she said in a statement.

The government has created a £530m next-gen broadband fund to help areas outside BT's rollout area to gain access to faster broadband speeds.

Garfield reiterated BT's plans to bid for this funding. "It is important that as many premises as possible have access to fibre and so we will bid for the BDUK [Broadband Delivery UK] funds that are available," she added. BDUK is the government body administering the funding.

The telco believes the government funds could be used to extend the reach of fibre-based broadband to more than 90 per cent of UK premises within five to six years, BT added.

Click through to page two to see the list of 178 exchanges set to get a fibre upgrade next year

The latest 178 exchanges set to get superfast broadband are:

ABERDEEN BALGOWNIE Scotland

ABERDEEN KINCORTH Scotland

ABERDEEN LOCHNAGAR Scotland

ABERDEEN PORTLETHEN Scotland

ABERDEEN WEST Scotland

ABERGAVENNY Wales

AINTREE North West

ALLOA Scotland

ARBROATH Scotland

ARDROSSAN- SALTCOATS Scotland

ARDWICK North West

ARKWRIGHT East Midlands

ARNOLD East Midlands

ASHINGTON; NORTHUMBERLAND North East

ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD North West

BARGOED Wales

BARNWOOD South West

BASSETT South East

BEDMINSTER South West

BILSTON West Midlands

BISHOPSWORTH South West

BLYTH; NORTHUMBERLAND North East

BOLDON Yorkshire and The Humber

BOOTLE; MERSEYSIDE North West

BOROUGH GREEN South East

BOURNE East Midlands

BRAUNSTONE East Midlands

BRIDGERULE South West

BRIERLEY HILL West Midlands

BRIGG Yorkshire and The Humber

BRITON FERRY Wales

BULWELL East Midlands

CAERLEON Wales

CHICHESTER South East

CHURCHTOWN North West

CIRENCESTER South West

CLEVELEYS North West

CONSETT North East

COSHAM South East

COWES South East

CROSSGATES Yorkshire and The Humber

DALTON-IN-FURNESS North West

DE- FAIRMUIR DE- Scotland

DEVONPORT South West

DEWSBURY Yorkshire and The Humber

DORCHESTER South West

DRIFFIELD Yorkshire and The Humber

DRINGHOUSES Yorkshire and The Humber

DUMBARTON Scotland

DUMFRIES Scotland

DUNDEE BAXTER Scotland

EASTBOURNE PEVENSEY MARINA South East

EASTVILLE South West

ECCLESFIELD Yorkshire and The Humber

EDINBURGH ABBEYHILL Scotland

EDINBURGH GRANTON Scotland

EDINBURGH LEITH Scotland

EDINBURGH LIBERTON Scotland

EDINBURGH PORTOBELLO Scotland

EDINBURGH SOUTH QUEENSFERRY Scotland

EDINBURGH WESTER HAILES Scotland

EMSWORTH South East

EXMOUTH South West

FAREHAM South East

FARINGDON South East

FERNWOOD South West

FORDHOUSES West Midlands

GAINSBOROUGH East Midlands

GEDLING East Midlands

GLASGOW BARRHEAD Scotland

GLASGOW BELL Scotland

GLASGOW CAMBUSLANG Scotland

GLASGOW DOUGLAS Scotland

GLASGOW IBROX Scotland

GLASGOW POLLOK Scotland

GLASGOW SOUTH Scotland

GLASGOW SPRINGBURN Scotland

GLOUCESTER South West

GOREBRIDGE Scotland

GRANTHAM East Midlands

GREAT CROSBY North West

GREENOCK Scotland

HAVANT South East

HEMSWORTH Yorkshire and The Humber

HENBURY South West

HEREFORD West Midlands

HESKETH BANK North West

HIGHWAY West Midlands

HINDLEY North West

HOOK South East

HORBURY/ OSSETT Yorkshire and The Humber

HORSELEY FIELDS West Midlands

HUCKNALL East Midlands

HUNSLET Yorkshire and The Humber

HUYTON North West

ILKESTON East Midlands

KEIGHLEY Yorkshire and The Humber

KENDAL North West

KETTERING East Midlands

KILMARNOCK Scotland

KINGSWOOD South West

KIRKCALDY Scotland

LEICESTER East Midlands

LEVEN; FIFE Scotland

LIVINGSTON Scotland

LLANDAFF Wales

LOUTH East Midlands

LYE West Midlands

LYMINGTON South East

MANSFIELD East Midlands

MIDLAND West Midlands

MOLD Wales

MONTFORT East Midlands

MORRISTON Wales

NEW MILTON South East

NEWARK East Midlands

NEWBRIDGE; GWENT Wales

NEWCASTLE- UNDER-LYME West Midlands

NEWPORT; GWENT Wales

NEWPORT; ISLE OF WHITE South East

NEWTON ABBOT South West

NORTHALLERTON Yorkshire and The Humber

PENN; WEST MIDLANDS West Midlands

PETERLEE North East

PONTYPOOL Wales

PONTYPRIDD Wales

POOLE South West

PRESTATYN Wales

RETFORD East Midlands

ROATH Wales

RYDE South East

SCARBOROUGH Yorkshire and The Humber

SCUNTHORPE Yorkshire and The Humber

SELBY Yorkshire and The Humber

SILEBY East Midlands

SKELMANTHORPE Yorkshire and The Humber

SKETTY Wales

SMALLBROOK West Midlands

SOUTH ELMSALL Yorkshire and The Humber

SOUTH SHIELDS North East

SPALDING MARKET East Midlands

ST. BARNABAS East Midlands

ST. HELENS North West

STANLEY; CO DURHAM North East

STOKESLEY Yorkshire and The Humber

STONEHAVEN Scotland

STOURBRIDGE West Midlands

SUTTON IN ASHFIELD East Midlands

TEIGNMOUTH South West

TELFORD WELLINGTON West Midlands

TEWKESBURY South West

TOLL BAR West Midlands

TONYPANDY Wales

WALLSEND North East

WESTON- SUPER- MARE South West

WICKERSLEY Yorkshire and The Humber

WIDNES North West

WIGAN North West

WOODHOUSE Yorkshire and The Humber

WREXHAM Wales

YEOVIL South West