BT launches new Infinity broadband service

BT's Infinity service will be available from 25 January

Home workers stand to benefit from improved broadband speeds this year, after BT revealed launch and pricing plans for its Infinity superfast broadband service on fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) connections.

The new service will be available from 25 January to new and existing BT Total Broadband and BT Business customers in enabled exchange areas eligible for the service that the company claims will offer speeds of up to 40Mbit/s.

Infinity has been trialled in several areas of the UK, but is set to reach four million homes and businesses by the end of December following the rollout of the technology by BT's local access division, Openreach.

The service will be available for either £19.99 per month with a £50 connection charge, or £24.99 without, both on a minimum 18-month contract. BT took a swipe at Virgin Media, declaring that BT's cheapest monthly price is £7.47 cheaper than its rival's XXL high-speed service.

BT also said that Infinity will be able to offer upstream speeds of 10Mbit/s on the higher priced option, which it claims will be the fastest in the UK and six times faster than Virgin's fastest service.

Today's announcement is part of BT's strategy to provide superfast broadband to 40 per cent of the UK by the summer of 2012, and the company has said that it will spend £1.5bn to roll out both FTTC and fibre-to-the-premises services.

Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT Retail, said that faster broadband is essential as the internet becomes vital to people's lives and the demand for more compelling services grows.

"BT Infinity gives customers the capacity and reliability they need in an instant and at a great value price, and gives our customers the best possible online experience as part of our commitment to rolling out superfast speeds across the UK," he said.

BT will announce further information on its business offerings in the coming days.