Weds 2nd October 2024
WBG member Mike Parmar of Wave2 Communications presented to the group this week, outlining the current changes to the UKs telecoms infrastructure and the implications that has to individuals and businesses. Wave2 was formed by Mike in 2006 following redundancy and has been offering VoIP-based systems and services to businesses since, with a particular focus on GP surgeries and similar.
The BT Switch-off programme is a roll-out of fibre-optic cabling across the UK, replacing the heavy and slow copper cabling that has provided telecoms services for many decades. In addition to speed improvements, fibre-optic reduces the need for large exchange buildings (a single old exchange could host dozens of fibre-optic ones) and also requires far less maintenance. With the increasing need for fast and stable broadband, this roll-out is essential to see the UK into the next few decades.
However, whilst fibre-based broadband is becoming more and more popular, certain services still utilise copper wires, such as
- Alarm lines
- Lift lines
- Some credit-card machines
- Home life-lines
- etc
The intention is that these will be replaced by the revised target date for the completion of the fibre roll-out in 2027
