BT chief hails St Agnes FTTP on Demand trial

BT's programme director for the Superfast Cornwall project has praised the decision to trial a new ultra-fast fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) service in St Agnes.

Ranulf Scarborough said it is great news that the FTTP on Demand product will be piloted in the Cornish village, along with seven other locations - High Wycombe, south Bristol, Edinburgh, Watford, Cardiff, Basingstoke and Manchester.

Commenting on the project, Mr Scarborough said St Agnes - the community where the FTTP on Demand service was first tested - will continue to play a "leading role" in the development of the technology.

"This ultra-fast service can make a major contribution to the efficiency and competitiveness of local businesses and so play a major role in the future prosperity of Cornwall," he added.

Provided the trials go well, Openreach - BT's local access network business - plans to make FTTP on Demand commercially available from spring 2013.

The service will offer downstream speeds of up to 330Mbps and upstream rates of either 20 or 30Mbps.