Fujitsu Plans 1Gb Fibre Optic Network for UK
Fujitsu has announced plans to build a 1Gb fibre network in the United Kingdom.
Just a week after it co-signed a letter to minister for communications and head of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), Ed Vaizey, complaining about the prices BT charges for use of its ducts and poles, Fujijsu has revealed plans to build a high-speed broadband network aimed at supplying internet to 5 million rural homes.
Fujitsu Wednesday announced plans to use Cisco network hardware to build the 1Gb fibre network and said TalkTalk and Virgin have already signed up to use the wholesale network to provide service to their own customers. Fujitsu says that because it will run fibre optic cabling directly to the home (FTTH) rather than the local street cabinet, the network will be one gigabit (1Gbps) symmetric capable from day one with potential to go to 10Gbps and beyond.
Discussing its plans, the company said the planned network offered a "ground breaking and innovative alternative to BT Openreach" and opportunity for communities and local authorities eager to access a portion of the £530 million earmarked by the UK Government to "drive investment in superfast broadband in rural communities."
"There is a unique opportunity for the UK to re-establish itself as a world leader by having the world's most advanced fibre network," said Duncan Tait, CEO of Fujitsu UK and Ireland. "If done correctly this can be a key vehicle to accelerate recovery in the UK and bring genuine choice to generations of communities starved of participating fully in the UK economy. We believe our approach, in collaboration with these major industry leaders, will provide a future proofed network for at least the next 20 to 30 years."
Fujitsu admitted that its plans depend on Ofcom's efforts to have BT Openreach provide access to its underground ducts and telegraph poles on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. We'll keep you posted on how that works out.
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Wow that'd be awesome if it all works out.
Let's actually hope this doesn't turn out to be smoke and mirrors as i live in rural England and have to suffer a 2 meg connection.
Let's actually hope this doesn't turn out to be smoke and mirrors as i live in rural England and have to suffer a 2 meg connection.
I live 2 miles from my exchange and I get 4.5 - ADSL sucks balls and the only reason this stop-gap technology has existed so long is because Openreach made a fortune in LLU fees.
Hope rural would include my exchange. BT have no plans to roll out adsl2 never mind FTTC. The only other provider is Talk Talk so no chance of a good choice ether.
if this can be done, by that time technology will be improved about 10 times or more and that speed will suck, please hurry up with the freakin' high speed broadband maybe the half of the UK is suffering of speeds between 2-7.5 mb ADSL. ADSL should be terminated, it's agin'
Let's actually hope this doesn't turn out to be smoke and mirrors as i live in rural England and have to suffer a 2 meg connection.
Such a first world problem
if this can be done, by that time technology will be improved about 10 times or more and that speed will suck,
A similar debate is happening in Australia, where the government wants to provide 100 Mbps or more to 93% of Australian properties. People/Interest groups, keep talking down the proposal based on the assumption the technology will become outmoded by the time it is done. However the actual installation of the fibre is the main part of the infrastrucutre cost, but the relatively cheap to upgrade exchanges will be the biggest factor in future speed increases.
i still have 512/256 because i was one of the 1st to sign up for adsl and kept the contract with my provider. it's way slower than the 12mbit available now but it's fully unmetered. if i switched to any other speed i'd have to change contract and it would be capped at 31GB x month, i do an average of 90 now. aside from the occasional annoyance to having to wait for a movie to buffer for a few minutes, i have no problems with it so i don't understand all the stress of people with 4 and 8 times faster lines. i torrent, i ftp, i soulseek, i'm happy. you need to chill guys.
and about re-establishing ourselves at the forefront ... whenever have we been anything but towards the bottom of internet accessibility and speeds? is this some kind of jobsian reality inversion field?
Very much looking forward to this new infrastructure being put in place, however all this bandwidth yet most ISPs are capping you down to unrealistic levels... a bit like having a supercar and not being able to drive it faster than 70, it seems.