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Cable Communications in the UK

2009-03-05

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Cable Broadband makes use of Coaxial cables or fiber optic lines. The largest cable broadband company in the UK is Virgin Media, but Smallworld Media also has a significant clientele in the places where they offer services. Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) was test launched in the UK towards the end of the1990s and introduced commercially in 2000. In the United Kingdom, nearly all exchanges, local loops and backhauls belong to BT Wholesale, which in turn engages in wholesale trade of bandwidth to Internet Service Providers. ISPs normally distribute Internet access to consumers, besides providing support, billing and value added services.

Nationwide, BT currently runs 5591 exchanges, mostly ADSL-capable. A number of exchanges, less than 1000, are now even SDSL-capable. These exchanges are usually the bigger ones placed in large towns and cities so, although few in numbers, they nevertheless service a huge part of the population. SDSL services are intended primarily for corporate users and are more expensive than ADSL products.

Unbundled local loop

A significant number of firms currently manage their own networks using unbundled local loops. At first Bulldog Communications in the London area, and then Easynet, through UK Online, an affiliated firm for customer services, have made exchanges possible throughout the UK, from London to Central Scotland.

Local loops permit far greater speeds normally of 24 Mbit/s maximum downstream in selected places. The services are also comparatively lower priced at times, since they are not covered by the regulations governing BT.

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IP Communications in the UK