Broadband revolution hits seaside town

Businesses will have access to high-speed internet connection

High-speed internet access is to be offered to nearly 2,000 businesses and 13,000 residents in the north Wales town of Rhyl.

BT have announced plans to install ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) technology at the town's telephone exchange.

People living near the exchange could benefit

The development will allow people who live within 5.5km of the facility to join the broadband "revolution", which gives users a high-speed, high-capacity link to the internet.

ADSL is the most common form of broadband technology in the UK.

The service is already available in other parts of Wales but take-up has so far been extremely slow.

According to figures from BT, only 0.5% of households served by enabled exchanges in Wales have connected to the service compared with the UK average of 1.1%.

Technology explained

Broadband improves the quality of communications and increases the amount of information that can be carried over a telephone line or cable.

ADSL is one way of providing this service - the "asymmetric" means the phone company can send lots of data to the user, but not vice versa.

The work in these exchanges is our response to customer demand

John Davies, BT director Wales

It is the specific technology for making broadband transmissions on the existing telephone networks.

As a result, ADSL uses a telephone line and, in order to receive it, customers have to live near a telephone exchange that has been upgraded.

Under the latest BT announcement, three other areas in Wales are set to benefit from the upgrades including Abergavenny, Cwmbran and Pontypridd.

The news is part of a multimillion pound initiative to install ADSL at a further 100 UK exchanges by the end of May.

John Davies, BT director Wales, said: "We pledged we would put broadband at the heart of BT moving forward, and today's announcements show us doing just that."

"The work in these exchanges is our response to customer demand.

"People have told us, in sufficient numbers, that they want broadband services and the advantages they offer of 'always-on' fixed cost, fast access."

Expansion plans

The move is also in line with a government drive to ensure the UK has "the most extensive and competitive broadband market among the G7 nations by 2005".

It sees broadband as the key to successfully building the new digital e-economy.

Any development that is likely to boost business and leisure activities is excellent news

Councillor, Ken Wells

The technology has been available for selected areas within Denbighshire and, despite the slow take-up, the local authority are hoping the service will be expanded.

Councillor, Ken Wells, said: "Many people depend on the internet for information, and any development that is likely to boost business and leisure activities is excellent news.

"The council will be writing to BT to seek clarification on whether these facilities will soon be available to every town in the county."

In addition to the BT roll-out, Telewest and NTL are also offering broadband services via their cable networks.

And internet service providers like Freeserve and AOL have also launched their own ADSL services (albeit using the BT network).

An alternative way of obtaining broadband services include ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines.