O2-owned “Be” announces increase in broadband coverage

Broadband provider Be has announced that it will increase its network coverage by 15% over the next four months.

By June 2008, Be claims it will have unbundled 400 more telephone exchanges and have 67% coverage of the UK population.  The unbundling process will basically make the new exchanges ready to deliver Be’s broadband service.  After June, 1245 total exchanges will have been unbundled and the service will be available to an extra 2 million phone lines.

The move is good news for those that have been unable to receive Be broadband, which operates using ADSL2+ technology and can offer theoretical speeds of up to 24Mbps.  The speeds of course vary depending on the distance from the customer’s premises to the exchange and overall line quality.  The maximum line speeds that users could probably receive is around 20Mbps if they live very close to their local telephone exchange.

Oli White, Head of Marketing at Be said:  “These 400 new exchanges will mean that over 67% of the UK population will be able to experience faster speeds with ADSL2+. But it doesn’t stop there; we are already testing new technologies that will enhance not only the network but our speed.”

O2, which owns Be, also uses Be’s ADSL2+ network to provides its broadband service.