While BT broadband is set to launch its ADSL 2+  broadband next year, its current chairman Sir Christopher Bland was quoted as saying that the ISP is to find the scope of Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) networks in UK in the near future. The article in Financial Times which features BT's future plans in the fibre based broadband, says BT may consider the option of FTTC networks in future although the technology is highly expensive and the scope of superfast broadband services still remains uncertain.

Currently, the maximum speed offered by ADSL 2+ networks is around 24 Mbps and the fact remains that most of the customers are unable to get the speeds promised by UK ISPs. The factors that affect the speed of DSL connections are the distance from the exchange, quality of wire and interference on the wire. The FTTC networks can offer speeds up to 50 Mbps compared to 100 Mbps broadband offered by fibre networks in countries like Japan, Korea and Sweden.

While the IPTVs and growing habit of downloading videos are prevalent in UK, the bandwidth needs have to be addressed either by adopting to ADSL 2+  technology or new generation broadband technologies like FTTH or FTTC. The survey says UK broadband is relatively slow to making shift to these new generation technologies. Currently a few broadband suppliers like Be offers 24Mb broadband via their ADSL 2+ networks.

BT's 21 CN network which will offer ADSL 2+ to households and businesses in
UK, is estimated to cost £10bn for the ISP. It seems the new fibre based broadband that will be rolled out by BT will be available in cities and towns to meet the cost of the investment.