| Posted: Tuesday 27th April 2004 by
Sam |
BT have this morning announced that they are to scrap the preregistration scheme and replace it with a pre-ordering system.
Some people have suggested that the preregistration scheme has begun running out of steam. It seems that BT have taken a similar view - "We would not be able to bring broadband to exchanges serving 99.6% of UK homes by Summer 2005 if we maintained the registration scheme". Yes, the target is 99.6% ADSL based coverage as revealed earlier last week. The remaining 0.4% will be covered with alternative technologies. Furthermore, they state that a planned rollout, rather than a triggering system, allows them to "adopt the best options and engineering solutions to deliver broadband to people connected to all these exchanges faster".
The replacement for the pre-registration scheme is the pre-order scheme. At the end June this year, BT will announce a rollout programme for the remaining exchanges with triggers. These will be given RFS dates automatically. The Q&A; document supplied to campaigners seems to suggest that the 150 day limit on pre-ordering broadband before the RFS date will be removed, so as to allow customers to order as soon as their date is released. The document also seems to suggest that there will still be a place for campaigners who "wish to continue the drive for broadband take up in their communities". Details of their continued involvement are not yet available.
Exchanges which have triggered and are without RFS dates, and those above 90% registrations (42 exchanges), will be given RFS dates automatically over the coming weeks. These 42 exchanges which fall inside the 90% bracket will be the only ones. All the others from now on will end up in the new pre-ordering scheme. I'll try and get an official list of the exchanges above 90%, but as I said, I make the list to be 42.
The remaining 565 (figure quoted from BT) exchanges without trigger level will not be included in the rollout - "BT will continue to seek to work with public sector and other organisations to help bring broadband to these areas. Possible solutions include BT’s Exchange Activate community broadband solution as well as wireless and satellite broadband."
Another interesting point to make, besides the fact that people will be able to order before the 150 day barrier (which essentially destroys provisional RFS dates altogether), is that they will now be able to receive broadband ADSL on the day the exchange is activated. Until now, you often had to wait up to a couple of weeks after the RFS date itself.
And here's the clincher... "As of April 27th 2004, the registration scheme is closed. Exchanges that have not triggered or are not within 10% of their trigger target will have an RFS date set and announced at the end of June." The availability checker on bt.com/broadband has already been updated to inform people of the removal of the preregistration scheme.
I've had confirmation that the FastPRoBE system, which handles BT's preregistrations, has now been closed. Continued registrations via this website will not have any effect. Sorry folks!
BT have kindly allowed me to republish the Q&A; Word document sent to campaigners this morning. Click here to download it!. The press release can be found here.
Unfortunately I will not be around a great deal today, but I will try to ensure that I keep this site up to date with the latest on the situation.
Update (11am): The official list from BT detailing the 42 exchanges which have 90% or above is now available. Please click here to download it (CSV format). |