BT soldiers on with ADSL

BT has completed the first stage of its asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) rollout.

The bad news is that although BT has met its technical deadline, customers will have to wait for actual delivery because of delays in recruiting customers for trials with service providers. "We are open to taking orders," said Angus Porter, BT marketing director. "Does it feel like a delay to the customers? Yes - because they won't be online until the end of June."

The telco has equipped 416 exchanges with the technology, covering 25 per cent of its customer base in 18 cities across the UK including London, Manchester and Leeds.

Another 100 exchanges will be equipped over the next two months, and half of the population will have access by summer 2001.

Porter added: "We are still learning. Service provider trialists haven't signed up customers as quickly as expected."

BT predicts it will install 500,000 upgraded lines in the next 12 months, with an even split between small businesses and home users. This compares to around three million users of its existing ISDN technology, which BT expects to decline as customers switch to the more powerful medium.

BT will also soon be facing a challenge from other carriers keen to offer high-speed services. Rival telco Thus - formerly Scottish Telecom - has announced it will be part of a trial of local loop unbundling for ADSL services in December.

Local loop unbundling is the technical term for giving rival operators area access to BT's local network, to increase competition. It is scheduled to take place by July 2001. The trial will test the processes allowing rivals to install their own ADSL equipment in BT's local exchanges.

ADSL allows existing copper phone lines to carry information at speeds far higher than previously possible. The commercial service will offer about 250Kbps from the customer to the operator, and up to 2Mbps from operator to customer to deliver multimedia services, such as Internet access or video content.