TalkTalk & Sky Make Suggestions on BT Broadband Plan
In accordance with their interest in the £1.5bn superfast broadband network of BT, providers Carphone Warehouse and Sky have been seeking improvements in the efficacy of the plan. It is notable that Carphone and Sky are only two out of a huge number of prospective customers for BT’s new fibre optic network.
The new wholesale broadband plan of BT is aimed at providing customers with a new high-speed network that will enable them to download at a speed ten times faster than the current speeds. No wholesale deal with operators has been finalised yet.
Dougal Scott, Sky’s deputy head of strategy, talked about the interest of his company in the plans and pointed out that BT will need to work harder on attracting the potential partners by bringing in suggested improvements in their products.
Right now, neither Sky nor TalkTalk (Carphone Warehouse) are sure about the capability of BT’s network to fulfil the needs of different providers who will be competing with each other. According to Charles Dunstone, Carphone’s chief executive, the present form of Openreach product is not so acceptable/marketable, as it does not reflect adequate flexibility.
The claim of Dunstone was countered by a BT spokesperson, who pointed out that Openreach is quite confident about the performance and reliability of its product after conducting a successful pilot. He added that BT would be willing to bring in more flexibility and innovation depending upon popular demand for its product.
It is also worth noting that BT is determined to bring out the high-speed network by 2012 instead of 2013 as was planned. This would be right in time for the mega event of London Olympics.
For information on your ISP and corresponding broadband speed, try using the broadband check from Broadband Genie to get a snapshot of your current download and upload speeds. It is a good site to compare BT Broadband prices and service with Virgin Media Broadband and the other top internet service providers such as O2 Broadband.
