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BT engineering work delays Burton fibre broadband upgrade
Burton will have to wait until the end of June to receive access to fibre optic broadband.
The telecoms giant had originally intended to set its fibre optic broadband service live in the Staffordshire town on March 31st 2012, but the launch date is now being promoted as June 30th on its official website, reports the Burton Mail.
Explaining the decision, a BT spokesman said the company's super-fast broadband rollout is the largest engineering project of its kind currently taking place anywhere in the world, with up to 100,000 homes and businesses receiving access to the technology each week.
So far, the deployment has reached around seven million properties.
As a result, the spokesman stressed that the "go live" dates published by BT every quarter are intended as a guide only and are consequently subject to change.
"Due to some additional engineering work that is required to complete the upgrade in Burton, the first customers are likely to be able to order super-fast broadband during early April rather than by the end of March, as was originally hoped," he commented.
The company releases its quarterly updates to internet service providers that utilise its wholesale broadband network. In turn, these companies can pass on the information direct to their customers.
Ian Page, vice chairman of Burton Business Club, expressed his disappointment at the delay, particularly given the short notice. However, he acknowledged that BT must have a "very good reason" for taking the decision.
"I know BT delayed the rollout of super-fast broadband in Swadlincote twice before it actually went live," he noted.
Elsewhere in the Midlands, BT announced earlier this month that it will roll out fibre optic broadband to a further 16,500 homes and businesses in Derbyshire and 18,000 in Nottinghamshire by spring 2013.
The telecoms firm is planning to invest up to £2.5 billion to bring the technology to two-thirds of the UK by the end of 2014.