LONDON: BT today announced details of the first steps it will take to
transition customers in the UK to its 21st century network (21CN).
This is a new secure and intelligent communications infrastructure that will
deliver existing and future services designed to make people's lives more
productive and businesses more efficient. BT believes 21CN will have as
significant an impact on the way people communicate as the arrival of motorways
had on road travel in the late 20th century and will make communications easier,
faster and better for voice, data or video services.
Starting in late November this year, BT, working closely with other
communications providers, will begin the planned upgrade of customers and their
voice and broadband services, in Cardiff and the surrounding area.
Customers will not have to do anything for their lines to be upgraded.
Telephone numbers will not change and, as all work will be carried out in BT's
telephone exchanges, no roads will have to be dug up to deliver the upgrade.
The first stage of the new network will be delivered in three phases,
increasing in scale with each phase. Phase one, to run from November this year
until March 2007, will see the upgrade of voice services to some 10 percent of
customer lines in Cardiff and the surrounding area. Phase two, from April to mid
May 2007, will deliver a further 10 percent of upgraded lines.
By the end of Phase 3 in the summer of 2007, BT will have upgraded all
350,000 customer lines. 90,000 of these lines also support broadband and ISDN2
and ISDN30 services. Private circuit-based services, which typically support
business-critical corporate applications, will not be migrated on to the new
network until much later in the programme.
“Years of planning, testing and development will culminate in South Wales
in three months when we start the exciting process of bringing the world's
most advanced national communications infrastructure to everyone the UK.
“This is a world leading programme that will provide customers with a
radically improved experience and new products and services faster,” said Paul
Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale and BT Board sponsor for the 21CN
programme.
Huw Saunders, of Kingston Communications, speaking as Industry co-chair of
the Consult21 Steering Board, said: "Next generation networks will play a
fundamental role in how we will all communicate and do business in the future.
As an industry, we've participated in the development and design of BT's
programme to ensure that it takes into account the needs of everyone, regardless
of which communications provider they choose to take services from. What happens
in Cardiff in a few short months is only the beginning of the journey."
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