Refreshing the 21CN Programme
BT has recently completed a comprehensive review of the 21CN programme to ensure that it meets with customers’ rapidly evolving demands for advanced, high speed broadband services, as well meeting the requirements of over 600 other service providers in the UK market.
The plans, which are subject to consultation and final agreement with industry and Ofcom, the industry regulator, will bring the world’s most advanced communications infrastructure and services to all businesses and homes across the UK. 21CN will give customers a more flexible, more controllable service experience, as well as a range of new services developed faster than is possible today.
BT expects that the first customers will be migrated to 21CN in Cardiff and parts of South Wales starting in November this year. The programme has also accelerated the introduction of advanced broadband services and broadband speeds of up to 24 M/bits nationally, with Internet Service Providers having the option to migrate to the new Broadband Connect services from January 2008. This was in response to industry demand.
The initial phase of migration will take place in Cardiff and the surrounding area with 350,000 customer lines being upgraded and tested between November 2006 and June 2007. Working closely with industry, BT will then conduct a comprehensive six month review of the Cardiff upgrade process, before proceeding with a planned UK-wide rollout to begin in January 2008 and be complete by 2011.
Paul Reynolds, the BT plc Board sponsor for the programme, said: “21CN is the largest transformation programme underway in the communications industry anywhere in the world. It will provide competitive advantage to UK businesses and bring a wealth of compelling new services to consumers.
“But it’s a complex programme that affects the entire industry. I’m delighted that we’re consulting and working closely together as an industry to ensure that the migration to a new era of advanced services is a positive experience for everyone.
“Once the migration work is underway, we can then look forward to the arrival of compelling new converged services that will make businesses more productive and peoples’ lives more flexible. Through its investments in 21CN, BT is giving the UK the world’s most advanced communications infrastructure and an associated commercial advantage.”