BT halfway through 24Mbit/s broadband rollout

BT has installed its next-generation broadband service in 763 exchanges

BT Wholesale confirmed today that its Whole Broadband Connect (WBC) high-speed broadband service is now available to more than half the country.

The company said in a statement that it had rolled out its next-generation service to 763 exchanges that are able to offer speeds of up to 24Mbit/s.

BT Wholesale also explained that fibre has now been added to its WBC offering to support fibre-to-the-cabinet services that deliver download speeds of up to 40Mbit/s and upstream rates of up to 10Mbit/s.

Sian Baldwin, broadband director at BT Wholesale, claimed that this combination of services will help to ensure that as much of the UK as possible can benefit from high-speed broadband.

"Already more than 550,000 end users are enjoying our ADSL2+ copper service, with more than 20,000 to 30,000 end user customers being added each week," she said.

Baldwin added that faster broadband speeds are an essential tool to help businesses cope with the tough economic conditions and competitive environment.

BT has been investing in its network infrastructure since July 2008 as part of a £1.5bn rollout of next-generation services, and has said previously that it remains on track to meet its target of offering 100Mbit/s services to homes by 2012.

However, the firm has come under fire for these rollouts after Virgin Media questioned whether it is really necessary to add new fibre in areas where Virgin is already offering high-speed access.