Fujitsu plans superfast fibre optic broadband to 5 million rural homes

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The company is to work with Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Cisco using BT's infrastructure to deliver 1Gbps speeds

Fujitsu plans fibre optic broadband network

Fujitsu has announced a collaboration with Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Cisco that will see the company bring superfast broadband to 5 million rural households.

The plan will use BT's existing infrastructure, recently opened-up by Ofcom to other providers, in order to deliver speeds of 1Gbps to rural homes.

Fujitsu and Cisco will enable the wholsale network, which will then be open to all ISPs, with Virgin Media and TalkTalk already committed to using the network.

The network will run directly to homes in the vast number of cases, making it "one gigabit (1Gbps) symmetric capable from day one with potential to go to 10Gbps and beyond".

The plans are reliant on Fujitsu securing funding from the UK government that has been earmarked for the roll-out of broadband across the UK.

Once this is secured, Fujitsu has told us the network could be up and running in 18 months, with users accessing broadband in 2012.

The news comes after Ofcom ordered BT to share its existing infrastructure to speed the spread of superfast broadband.

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Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).