Lucky Ebbsfleet. BT’s (NYSE: BT) Openreach network access unit will join Virgin in testing next-generation access in the Kent town. It will lay down fibre to a planned 10,000-home estate from August, giving rival ISPs the opportunity to sell up to 100Mbps services through wholesale arrangements. BT says it will allow them “to gauge what demand exists for very high speed broadband, and to assess what commercial models may be appropriate in the future”. Announcement: ”This would allow multiple HDTV channels to be watched simultaneously, HDTV gaming, and near-instant music downloads.”

The company has recently questioned whether British consumers actually want the lightning fast speeds that fibre-optic cable can offer and is reluctant to open up its next-gen networks as regulators require thanks to the scale of its investment. This will be the first time it has tried it out for the higher speeds.

BT added that, in the future, it hoped to roll out more fibre-optic cable in new-build sites, which it sees as an opportunity given the government’s plan to build three million new homes by 2020. But it couldn’t resist pointing out in their press release that any investment into fibre-optic cable “critically depends upon an agreement with Ofcom,” which is mulling over whether or not to step in and legislate a faster upgrade.

BT is already gradually upgrading its national copper wire network to carry up to 24Mbps as part of the 21st Century Network programme tested in south Wales. Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED), too, is using Ebbsfleet to trial a 50Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 system that it reckons can be used to deliver HDTV over IP.

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