BT Press Release April 15 2003

BT LAUNCHES WEB SITE TO EMPOWER LOCAL BROADBAND CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND ANNOUNCES 200 MORE DEMAND TRIGGER LEVELS

Grassroots campaigners working to accelerate the arrival of high-speed broadband internet services in towns and villages across the UK are to be supported by a new 'campaign in a box' web site launched by BT.

Since the launch of BT Wholesale's innovative broadband registration scheme, the company has recognised the impact local campaigners can have in developing awareness and stimulating demand. BT Wholesale, which has more than 120 service provider customers, has developed the new web site to build on work it has already done supporting more than 240 local groups.

The company also revealed today the levels of broadband demand required to upgrade a further 200 exchanges, setting the framework to bring ADSL broadband within reach of 85 per cent of UK homes and businesses.

Cost drives and technical changes, including linking exchanges to share "backhaul" connections to BT's core network, have brought down costs at these exchanges, now making it possible to set demand trigger levels. BT plans to publish trigger levels for a further 400 exchanges this summer, giving a demand-led approach which could bring broadband within reach of 90 per cent of homes.

BT Wholesale's broadband marketing team has provided campaign groups with leaflets, tailored to local areas, which encourage people to demonstrate their interest by signing up with an internet service provider. These registrations then count against BT's demand targets for upgrading local exchanges for broadband.

The new web site is accessed via www.bt.com/broadband. Clicking on either 'Broadband Campaigns' or 'Where I live' will link to the local campaign pages which include: advice on starting a campaign; a list of areas with current campaigns and web site details (if applicable), along with quotes and experiences of campaigners; and an order form for tailored campaign leaflets and posters.

The campaign support team at BT Wholesale has also set up e-mail contacts to provide individual advice and support and free telephone campaign advice line.

Philippa Winterburn, BT Wholesale's head of broadband marketing, said: "The key to successful local broadband awareness campaigns has been the energy and drive of the individuals who can see what broadband will mean for them and their communities.

"Their enthusiasm is infectious and highly effective at a local level. This web site provides them with an online 'campaign in a box' toolkit to build a strong campaign, which will help speed up the arrival of broadband in their area.

"The announcement of more trigger levels today, and more to come, should prove an added spur to towns and villages keen to join the broadband revolution."

Different approaches have been adopted to suit local campaigns. Examples of campaign groups BT Wholesale has supported include:

Leaflets and press adverts for the Broadband4blackpool campaign, together with a photocall with MP Joan Humble helped to drive interest levels to hit the demand threshold for the Blackpool North Shore exchange. Work is now going on at the exchange ready for switch on of broadband services on May 21.

In Great Yarmouth, BT printed 4,000 leaflets designed by the broadband4yarmouth campaign team who opted to use their local volunteers to organise the door drop. As a result of this campaign work the local exchange was upgraded with broadband available from April 9.
At Thirsk in North Yorkshire BT arranged printing and distribution of 5,000 leaflets for the local campaigners. Handouts and 200 posters were provided and a Microsoft Xbox put up as a prize in a competition designed to stimulate awareness. Thirsk exchange goes live for broadband from May 14.

So far more than 360,000 people have used the broadband registration scheme to log their demand for broadband where not yet available. As a result 307 exchanges have hit their demand triggers of which 59 exchanges are live for broadband and the others are currently being upgraded. To date, 53 of the campaign groups helped with advertising have hit their trigger level.

The campaign support team can be contacted by email at bb.campaign.groups@bt.com

A list of exchanges with triggers set at Tuesday April 14 is available here in PDF format. To view this you need Adobe Acrobat Reader software which can be downloaded free at Adobe.com