Openreach, BT’s local access network division, has announced the two sites for operational pilots of its fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) service, with trials planned to begin in summer 2009. Two exchanges, one in Muswell Hill, London and one in Whitchurch, South Glamorgan, will be used to conduct the pilot schemes, with up to 15,000 customer premises involved in each area; end users are expected to receive speeds of up to 40Mbps. Additionally, technical trials are set to be conducted in the Foxhall exchange area of Kesgrave, Suffolk in early 2009. Openreach has also confirmed that fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) service has already been launched at Ebsfleet Valley, Kent, earlier this year. David Campbell, Openreach’s director of next generation access said, ‘The sites were chosen in consultation with communications providers and took into account feedback from Regional Development Agencies, Devolved Authorities and similar organisations. It was also necessary to take into account current network topology and our ability to run testing procedures in the chosen areas. We have a good mix of areas, allowing us to test our products in both urban and semi-rural environments. These two sites were chosen from a shortlist and we expect to announce detailed plans for the initial market deployment of the Openreach product in early 2010, again following consultation with all interested parties.’

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