BBC News UK Edition | Monday, 4 July, 2005, 06:07 GMT 07:07 UK
[An inset photo shows Basil Fawlty on the phone with the caption, "Old-style phone systems are being phased out". - This introduces a perhaps unintended element of slapstick into the story ]
Around 350,000 phone users in south Wales will be the first in the UK to benefit from the latest internet-based technology.
Homes in Cardiff, Pontypridd and Bridgend areas are being switched across to 21CN (21st Century Network).
BT plans to replace the old phone network - used for almost 100 years - with a broadband-based connection.
Up to £10bn is being spent over five years, and eventually every exchange in the UK will be updated.
Paul Reynolds, BT Wholesale's chief executive, said 21CN promised "a more simple, seamless, integrated communications experience for everyone".
When complete, it will give the UK one of the most advanced and flexible communications infrastructures in the world.
Full details of the project will be revealed on Monday, in the company of First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Welsh Secretary Peter Hain.
Transformation
BT believes it is ahead of all other telecommunications companies in the world in taking the latest step towards transforming its network.
Three "super exchanges" are to be developed in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, with a further 10 new transmission sites to be established across the region.
The eventual plan is to move all BT subscribers from the traditional PSTN (public switched telephone network) to a new IP (internet protocol) network.
Customers in the pilot scheme area in south Wales will be transferred to the new network in 2006, with the remainder of subscribers moving by the end of the decade.
"In 10 years time there will be no phone connection in any of our customers' homes," Mr Reynolds told the BBC news website recently.
(ctd/ read full article here)
See also:
press release | BT website | July 4, 2005 |
Cardiff chosen as first city to benefit from BT's 21st Century Network
The people of Cardiff and the surrounding area will be the first in the UK to enjoy phone calls, broadband and Ethernet services over BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) when it is rolled out to a regional concentration of customers for the first time. The migration of customer lines to the new infrastructure is expected to begin during the second half of 2006.
BT will migrate around 350,000 customer lines in the area, including many served by other telephone and internet service providers and mobile operators. The experience and customer feedback from the first mass customer migration project will help BT finalise plans to roll out 21CN to customers across the UK by the end of the decade.
(...)
Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government, said: “It’s incredibly exciting for us that Wales has been selected to provide the test bed for BT’s new 21st Century Network. The Welsh economy is thriving and growing. This investment by BT clearly signifies that Cardiff and central South Wales is one of Europe’s most dynamic and progressive regions. The end result will transform our personal and business lives, and help attract high tech industry and services to Wales.”
Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said: “Today's announcement represents a critical shift in the focus of BT's 21CN programme, moving from creating the vision and planning, to delivering the future to customers. We chose Cardiff and the surrounding area primarily because of its impressive track record in pioneering the benefits of, and attracting inward investment in, advanced communications and information technology. The area's demographics are also representative of the UK market and critically, BT Wholesale’s customer base. It’s essential that 21CN meets the needs of operators, service providers, businesses and consumers alike.”
(...)
Matt Bross, BT Group’s chief technology officer said: “This rollout will be the first time anywhere in the world that customers will have communications services provided over such a radical next generation network. The operational experience that we gain in Cardiff and the surrounding area will enable us to move full steam ahead and deliver 21CN to everyone in the UK – migrating a total of 30 million lines – in just four years. It’s an enormous technical and operational challenge but will enable customers to benefit from compelling new services”.
21CN is the world’s most radical next generation network transformation programme, requiring an investment by BT of up to £10 billion by the end of the decade.
(ctd/ read full article here )
Cardiff first in BT's £10bn 21CN network makeover
PC Pro | Monday 4th July 2005 | Cardiff first in BT's £10bn 21CN network makeover 4:54PM
Cardiff has been chosen by BT as the first city to sample phone calls, broadband and other Ethernet services over its next-generation telecommunications network, dubbed '21st Century Network' (21CN).
Full article here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Background:
Ofcom's regulatory settlement with BT- creation of new Access Services division
Ofcom's BT deal wins cautious support
Graeme Wearden | ZDNet UK | June 23, 2005, 17:45 BST
The creation of an access services division to ensure BT plays fair is a step in the right direction, say rivals and analysts
The agreement struck between Ofcom and BT this week on the future of telecommunications regulation in the UK has been given a cautious welcome.
Rival telecoms firms and industry analysts are in broad agreement that the plans, announced on Thursday morning, would mean greater competition -- which should ultimately benefit individual customers.
The creation of a new access services division to handle access to BT's 'local loop' -- the part of the network that connects homes and offices to local telephone exchanges, has received widespead approval. Even Energis, which had demanded BT's break-up, has made positive noises.
"We made clear our support for full structural separation as the only real solution to bring to an end BT's fundamental conflict of interest between its dual roles of competitor and supplier. However if Ofcom's solution addresses the problems it originally identified, we will work hard with both BT and Ofcom to ensure that it is implemented effectively," said an Energis spokeswoman.
(...)
"This is a considerable strengthening of the powers available to impose remedies on BT; something the rest of the UK industry had been seeking. In short, Ofcom will have the stick to enforce equality of access," said Ovum analysts Tony Lavender and Mike Cansfield in a research note.
( Read full article here )
See also:
BT dodges break-up bullet
Graeme Wearden | ZDNet UK | June 23, 2005, 11:45 BST
here
(...) Ofcom's announcement follows its Strategic Telecommunications Review, launched last year. If Ofcom and BT had failed to reach agreement, then the regulator could have started the process of breaking the telco up. This option now looks to be off the agenda, but Ofcom has warned that this is an option if BT fails to come through on its promises.
The telecoms industry was still digesting the implications of Ofcom's announcement on Thursday morning, with one insider describing Ofcom's announcement as "a step in the right direction" towards fair access to BT's network.
[BT's 21CN plans, plus access for competitive providers]
In return for making concessions in the way it operates its 'local loop', BT will get more freedom to invest in 'high-risk' ventures such as its 21st Century Network. This is something BT has urged Ofcom to allow. However, other operators are concerned that the construction of 21CN could give BT a more dominant position in the UK market.
Ofcom said on Thursday it is still working on measures to make sure 21CN will offer "all providers the same products, prices and processes on equal terms and does not inhibit reasonable developments by alternative network operators".
Ofcom orders BT to play fair, or else
Graeme Wearden | ZDNet UK | November 18, 2004, 08:40 BST
here
The communications regulator has brought out the big stick in the latest attempt to force BT to allow true competition to flourish in Britain's telecoms market
No comments:
Post a Comment