SSE Enterprise Telecoms – the UK’s leading provider of network infrastructure services, and part of the SSE Group – intends to further extend its network footprint by ’unbundling’ an additional 40 BT exchanges in prime business areas around the UK with high performance Ethernet services. SSE Enterprise Telecoms has also been confirmed as one of a small number of service providers in BT Openreach’s recently announced Dark Fibre Access trial. Subject to the satisfactory outcome of this trial, SSE Enterprise Telecoms will use the newly regulated dark fibre services to provide connectivity to the 40 new exchanges.
This will be the third phase of the network expansion programme SSE Enterprise Telecoms dubbed Project Edge and will bring the total number of exchanges served by its national fibre optic network to 140. The total number of postcodes in prime business areas that are served by the full Edge service will now increase to more than 300,000. The Project Edge footprint is further extended by SSE Enterprise Telecoms’ Edge Plus service, which provides its customers with access to the Ethernet services of six other leading suppliers across the breadth of the UK. The 40 new exchanges, as well as all of the existing Edge 1, Edge 2 and Edge Plus sites, will be available to quote and order via SSE Enterprise Telecoms’ online price comparison engine, LIVEQUOTE. Ethernet prices from all Project Edge sources are compared and analysed for the best value using the tool, and they are delivered in a single SSE Enterprise Telecoms service wrap in a matter of seconds. The 40 exchanges will be unbundled during the course of the next nine months and will be named in batches as they come on-net.
“The decision to extend our network even further demonstrates just how committed we are to supporting the connectivity ambitions of the UK business community,” said Colin Sempill, Managing Director of SSE Enterprise Telecoms. “We understand that to function in today’s economy, businesses need reliable, high capacity connectivity in all corners of the UK. It is through detailed analysis of LIVEQUOTE data as well as ongoing dialogue with direct customers and service providers, that we have selected these additional exchanges to which we will expand our network.”
Sempill continued: “We are also excited to be part of the Openreach Dark Fibre Access (DFA) trial and believe that this marks a turning point for the UK’s digital economy. For those that are agile enough, DFA will rapidly lead to more competitive services in an ever more competitive marketplace. With our track record of providing high performance, high availability connectivity to the most demanding businesses, we’re well placed to translate the cost advantages of DFA into more affordable services designed to reach ever wider business markets.”
