BT OUTLINES ROLL-OUT PLANS FOR
HIGH SPEED DATA SERVICE
bt.com
New connections will transform the Internet experience and provide the
platform for a new wave of multimedia-rich services
BT today outlined roll-out plans for new high speed data services which will turn an ordinary
telephone line into a high speed digital connection capable of carrying information at between
10 and 40 times the speed of a conventional modem.
It will significantly enhance existing services such as the Internet, videoconferencing, online
education and information services, enabling users to download information, images, video or
graphics almost instantly.
Getting information, education and entertainment on-line will soon become as quick and easy
as flicking through a magazine or changing TV channels, thanks to the new flat-rate "always
on" high speed data connections for homes and businesses.
The technology, technically known as asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), will be the
catalyst for a wealth of new services and products, the new information services of the future.
These could include:
On-line shopping and electronic commerce
Interactive games with players in different locations
Teleworking
Videoconferencing and videophones
Education and distance learning
ADSL is added to an existing telephone line by attaching advanced electronics to both ends: at
the local exchange and at the office or home. The network is upgraded without the streets and
pavements having to be dug up.
Among the earliest parts of the UK to benefit will be London within the M25, Cardiff, Belfast,
Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Four hundred
exchanges, covering almost six million households and businesses, will be upgraded by March,
2000.
Sir Peter Bonfield, BT's chief executive, said: "This roll-out plan is a major step towards
making Britain a world leader in the information revolution. By committing to a large scale
roll-out, BT will play a vital part in stimulating a competitive mass-market for consumers as
well as businesses of all sizes. It will drive new information industries and services to the
benefit of all.
"Our intention is to be at the heart of the information society in the UK."
These new services are part of BT's strategy to provide consumers and businesses with the
facilities to enable them to operate effectively in the information age. In September, 1998, BT
launched the Highway family of products bringing digital data connections to the mass market.
In addition to its new high speed data services, the company has substantial shareholdings in
BiB, whose Open interactive television service is scheduled for an autumn launch, and in BT
Cellnet, which expects to introduce its high speed mobile data service, GPRS, early next year.
BT intends to provide ADSL connections wholesale to a wide range of service providers and
other operators, enabling them to develop combined packages of digital content and digital
connections to their own customers. Corporate customers will be able to order high speed data
services for installation in the homes of teleworkers, giving them access to the full facilities of
corporate networks.
Wholesale prices will be in a range from around œ40 to œ150 per month to service providers
for each user they wish to connect. Retail prices, and the content of the services, will be
determined by service providers.
One of many advantages of BT's high speed data service is the "always on" data connection
which will give consumers convenient, fast access to their service provider.
Notes to Editors
ADSL
Standing for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, ADSL transforms the twisted copper pairs
of wires between a local telephone exchange and a customer's telephone socket into a high
speed digital line. It is called "asymmetric" because it is generally configured to move data
more quickly from exchange to customer than from customer to exchange. This makes it
particularly suitable for applications where customers expect to receive more data than they
transmit. Use of the World Wide Web, corporate intranets, and reception of digital audio-visual
material generally fits this pattern.
The speed available far exceeds that obtainable from dial-up modems or a single ISDN
channel. With access speeds of between 512Kbps and 2Mbps downstream and 256Kbps
upstream, the technology is capable of download speeds 10 to 40 times the speed of ordinary
modems. At 2Mpbs it can deliver the equivalent of a daily newspaper in seconds.
The customer's conventional voice line can operate over the same copper pair at the same time,
without either service getting in the way of the other.
ADSL is "always on", abolishing the need for a dial-up process to log onto a remote network.
It is a technology well matched to meet the demands of emerging broadband multimedia
services.
Technical background
ADSL works by transmitting and receiving digital signals across the copper pair. It operates on
a frequency band higher than that used by the voice line operating in the same copper pair,
which is why the two services do not interfere with each other.
Setting up ADSL requires the installation of electronic equipment at both ends of the copper
pair - in the exchange, and at the customer's premises.
At the customer's end, the equipment consists of two principal items.
A filter, or "splitter", provides separate physical sockets for the digital service and the
voice service. A normal telephone plugs into a phone socket on the splitter.
An ADSL modem which plugs into the digital port on the splitter, and into appropriate
consumer equipment, e.g. a PC, digital TV or set-top box.
In practice these two components may be combined into one box.
Each exchange from which ADSL is to be offered will be upgraded to make it suitable before
installations commence. This may involve the upgrading of the network between the local
exchange and the core network in addition to the installation of the exchange ADSL equipment
itself.
Product groups
Variable Bit Rate products
These products will enable Internet service providers to deliver to their customers (both
business and residential) a wide range of high speed Internet access applications such as
on-line shopping, banking, interactive games, video-conferencing, e-commerce and education
etc. They will also allow corporations effectively to provide their teleworker/ branch offices
with access to their corporate intranets.
Two sets of VBR products will be available, each in a range of speeds from 512Kbps to
2Mbps. One set will provide ATM transmission services ideally suited to organisations
wishing to provide their own IP capability (routers and modems); an enhanced set will provide
not only the high speed ATM transmission but also IP access.
Constant Bit Rate products
A wholesale product aimed at service providers who wish to deliver video-based interactive
applications to the TV, such as real time video and audio, home-shopping and home banking. It
provides ATM high speed services with a guaranteed constant bit rate (CBR) of 2.3Mbps. |
