BT to upgrade 114 more exchanges to superfast broadband

BT has revealed the location of a further 114 exchanges that will be upgraded within the next 12 months, allowing up to one million more homes and businesses to access the firm's superfast broadband services.

The exchanges will be upgraded in locations across the UK, including towns and cities such as Ipswich, Salisbury, Dover, Carlisle, Bognor Regis, Maidstone and Perth.

The upgrades will mostly use fibre-to-the-cabinet technology that can offer download speeds of up to 40Mbit/s and upload speeds of 10Mbit/s, but BT is working to double these speeds to 80Mbit/s by 2012.

The move forms part of BT's promise to provide two-thirds of the UK's online population with access to superfast speeds by the end of 2015 at a cost of £2.5bn, as the company competes with Virgin Media in the broadband market.

BT is also providing all homes and businesses in Cornwall with access to superfast broadband as part of a contract won with additional funding from the European Commission.

The government is relying on firms such as BT and Virgin Media to provide most of the country with access to superfast services, which it classes as 25Mbit/s or above, to help the UK become a leading broadband nation.