BT unveils long-awaited DSL roadmap

BT has ended months of speculation and laid out its plans for the rollout of digital subscriber line (DSL).

The telco plans to upgrade 400 exchanges in the UK's ten largest cities, including Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and London, to run asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology by the end of March 2000. The first 67 of those will be completed by October this year.

One of the principle advantages of ADSL is its always-on capability, billed as a fixed-monthly subscription, and high speeds that are up to forty times faster than ISDN. Companies can get high-quality video conferencing, file transfer rates of up to 2Mbps and high-quality teleworking facilities.

Bill Cockburn, group managing director of BT, said: "I think businesses, large and small, will find there is terrific potential in ADSL technology. We will be offering a range of products, many of which will be for the business sector."

Tim Johnson, analyst and founder of Ovum said that with fixed prices starting at £40 per month, ADSL looks set to offer a much cheaper alternative to ISDN. "Lots of businesses will not just be eager, they will be biting their hands off to get these services. Look at what they are paying at the moment for high bandwidth - they will be making huge savings with this," he said.

BT will offer services through BT Interactive but all the major service providers including AOL, Sky and MSN will also have the opportunity to provide their own bundled services. BT CEO Sir Peter Bonfield, said competition will create "a whole raft of new and innovative offerings".

Chris Setz, president of the Network Professionals Organisation, believes that this high level of competition means that BT is unlikely to get a dominant hold on the market. "BT aren't a responsive organisation, they're too massive. I think the competitive opportunity is overwhelming for all of the major telecoms companies."