BT sets another 100 broadband trigger levels

BT announced details of a further swathe of broadband trigger levels on Monday, giving hope to 102 communities that currently aren't served by its ADSL network.

These trigger levels are a measure of how many area residents need to register an interest in broadband before BT will upgrade the local exchange. Over half of the triggers are between 300 and 400 registrations, lower than generally expected, and just one local exchange - Hollinswood in Shropshire - was unlucky enough to receive a trigger of 750.

BT had not set trigger levels for these 102 exchanges earlier because it either hadn't completed calculating the cost of installing ADSL, or had carried out an assessment and decided that the cost would be too great to make it financially viable.

The list includes Essex's Chafford Hundred, which had achieved nearly 500 registrations despite not having been set a trigger level at all. Having been given a trigger level of 450, Chafford has now passed the test and been added to BT's ADSL rollout programme.

A BT Wholesale spokesman explained that as some of the costs associated with upgrading to ADSL are falling, exchanges that once were uneconomic to upgrade are now becoming more viable.

The total cost of upgrading an exchange is still formidable, and according to BT it will range from £200,000 to £500,000 for each of the 102 exchanges on the list.

Some BT critics have claimed that its trigger levels are simply too high and don't accurately represent the raw cost of upgrading an exchange, but the telco is keen to sink these suggestions - including one argument that just 50 broadband users are needed per exchange.

"If their numbers added up then we'd have done it (upgraded more exchanges)," insisted the BT Wholesale spokesman. He also pointed out that local loop unbundling means that any company can install ADSL kit in an exchange and offer broadband services.

The primary cost is usually the expense of installing the bandwidth needed to connect the exchange to BT's main network and the internet, a process known as 'backhaul'.

"Backhaul is the pretty much always the largest single cost of upgrading an exchange. In addition, there is the cost of the DSL kit, and the expense of accommodation and infrastructure - building new rooms where required and installing air conditioning and cooling systems," the spokesman explained.

BT's latest trigger levels:

Exchange County Trigger level

BOVINGDON Hertfordshire 300

BRENCHLEY Kent 300

CANFORD CLIFFS Dorset 300

COMBERTON Cambridgeshire 300

FORDHAM (ESSEX) Essex 300

HERMITAGE Berkshire 300

LITTLE WALTHAM Essex 300

MARKYATE Hertfordshire 300

MELBOURN Cambridgeshire 300

NEWPORT-ON-TAY Fife 300

ROADE Northamptonshire 300

SILSOE Bedfordshire 300

SMALLFIELD Surrey 300

STOKE MANDEVILLE Buckinghamshire 300

STRENSALL North Yorkshire 300

STUDLEY Warwickshire 300

SUTTON VALENCE Kent 300

WADHURST East Sussex 300

WHITCHURCH (HANTS) Hampshire 300

ASKERN South Yorkshire 350

BATTLE East Sussex 350

BRIGHTLINGSEA Essex 350

BUNTINGFORD Hertfordshire 350

COGGESHALL Essex 350

COLLINGHAM BRIDGE West Yorkshire 350

COXTIE GREEN Essex 350

FARINGDON Oxfordshire 350

GLENROTHES SOUTH Fife 350

HADDENHAM (BUCKS) Buckinghamshire 350

HARTLEY WINTNEY Hampshire 350

HAWKINGE Kent 350

HENLEY-IN-ARDEN Warwickshire 350

HILLSBOROUGH Northern Ireland 350

HULLBRIDGE Essex 350

KIRRIEMUIR Tayside 350

LANGTON Kent 350

LISS Hampshire 350

MAGHERA Northern Ireland 350

ONGAR Essex 350

RANDALSTOWN Northern Ireland 350

SHEPSHED Leicestershire 350

WHEATLEY Oxfordshire 350

WHITBURN Tyne & Wear 350

WING Buckinghamshire 350

WINSLOW Buckinghamshire 350

BANCHORY Grampian 400

BOARS HILL Oxfordshire 400

BOROUGHBRIDGE North Yorkshire 400

COXHOE Durham 400

DONAGHADEE Northern Ireland 400

EGREMONT Cumbria 400

ERISWELL Suffolk 400

HETHERSETT Norfolk 400

HOLYMOORSIDE Derbyshire 400

LATCHINGDON Essex 400

MAGOR Gwent 400

MARKFIELD Leicestershire 400

MEASHAM Leicestershire 400

MELBOURNE Humberside 400

MIDDLETON CHENEY Northamptonshire 400

MOIRA Northern Ireland 400

MONIFIETH Tayside 400

NEWINGTON Kent 400

ROWLANDS GILL Tyne & Wear 400

ROYSTON South Yorkshire 400

SACRISTON Durham 400

SEDGEFIELD Durham 400

SENGHENYDD Mid Glamorgan 400

STOTFOLD Bedfordshire 400

WARRENPOINT Northern Ireland 400

WIRKSWORTH Derbyshire 400

WOTTON UNDER EDGE Gloucestershire 400

YELVERTON Devon 400

ADLINGTON Lancashire 450

AMBLE Northumberland 450

AMLWCH Gwynedd 450

BARTON ON HUMBER Humberside 450

BURNHAM ON CROUCH Essex 450

CATTERICK CAMP North Yorkshire 450

CHAFFORD Essex 450

CLAYDON Suffolk 450

CREDITON Devon 450

CRIEFF Tayside 450

FERNDALE Mid Glamorgan 450

KIMBERLEY Nottinghamshire 450

MAUCHLINE Strathclyde 450

PAKENHAM Suffolk 450

SEATON Devon 450

COWDENBEATH Fife 500

GLASTONBURY Somerset 500

HEBDEN BRIDGE West Yorkshire 500

MIDDLETON ON SEA West Sussex 500

BISHOPS CLEEVE Gloucestershire 550

CHIRK Clwyd 550

SKELMANTHORPE West Yorkshire 550

SLAITHWAITE West Yorkshire 550

SOMERSHAM Cambridgeshire 550

STAPLEHURST Kent 550

TIPTREE Essex 550

WESTBURY (WILTS) Wiltshire 550

ASH GREEN Kent 700

HOLLINSWOOD Shropshire 750

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK