BT cuts wholesale broadband costs and targets SMEs
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BT cuts wholesale broadband costs and targets SMEs

BT has cut its monthly wholesale costs for broadband services aimed at SMEs by over a third.

The company’s separate wholesale fibre entity, Openreach, will charge broadband providers £38 a month for 330Mbps FTTP services, down from £60 a month.

Despite the cut, the cost to initially install a fibre network will be higher than expected for broadband providers.

BT unveiled plans to develop ‘ultra-fast’ broadband using fibre-optic technology and make the service available across British homes and businesses throughout next year.

BT expects the developments will result in the UK having some of the highest available broadband speeds in Europe.

Openreach’s fibre network connects to homes and businesses through copper wires, and providers will be charged a distance-based construction charge because of the increasing work involved with a direct fibre connection.

According to the Financial Times, premises that are about 500 metres away from BT’s fibre network would incur a charge of £1,000 and an installation fee of £500.

The UK telecoms giant is aiming the service at SMEs, which are likely to pay more for faster internet access given the demand for data on networks. The service will become commercially available next year.

“Our deployment is one of the fastest in the world and our services are proving very popular with the public,” said Mike Galvin, managing director for next-generation access at Openreach. “It is now time for us to focus further on FTTP.”

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