BT hooks up first 21CN customers

BT has moved its first customers to its 21st Century Network (21CN) in the initial phase of the next-generation network's national rollout.

The upgrade took place without any engineer visits, new telephones or new telephone numbers, in the village of Wick, near Cardiff.

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Cardiff, Bridgend and the Pontypridd area are next on BT's list to have their voice and broadband services switched to 21CN.

By the end of summer 2007, around 350,000 customer lines in South Wales are expected to be migrated to the new infrastructure.

Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale and board sponsor of the 21CN programme, said that the rest of the UK will follow "over the next few years".

The 21CN project is BT's plan to switch its copper circuit-switched networks to a single IP-based core infrastructure, with a price tag of £10bn over five years.