Gibtelecom will radically upgrade its broadband speeds this year, in a move that will be welcomed by customers who have long complained of Gibraltar’s slow internet connections.
The company said it will quadruple its most popular broadband speeds during 2012, a step that will benefit some 11,000 Gibtelecom customers.
The company said it will quadruple its most popular broadband speeds during 2012, a step that will benefit some 11,000 Gibtelecom customers.
In contrast to download speeds, the price of the connection will not increase.
The top broadband speed will almost triple from 8Mbps to 20Mbps, while the speeds of the current Standard (1Mbps), Standard Plus (2Mbps) and Enhanced (8Mbps) broadband packages will be increased to 4Mbps, 8Mbps and 20Mbps respectively by September 2012.
As a first step Gibtelecom’s Standard and Standard Plus speeds will double in March to 2 Mbps and 4 Mbps respectively, whilst its Enhanced package customers will get a £10 reduction in their monthly rental.
“The first phase of deployment will enable Gibtelecom to cater for the demand for higher internet speeds from an increasingly ‘broadband-hungry’ Gibraltar, who require faster speeds to play interactive games, download media and other data intensive content,” said Xavi Bado, Gibtelecom’s Technical Director.
Mr Bado said Gibtelecom aimed to provide the speeds it was promising, unlike many other operators in Europe.
He cited a recent report on UK broadband services by the telecommunications regulator Ofcom revealed that most operators delivered significantly lower speeds than advertised.
This prompted the UK Advertising Standards Authority to adopt a code which from April 2012 will require speed claims to be achievable by at least 10% of an Internet Service Providers’ [ISP] customers.
Unless that target is met, advertising will have to include a statement with explanations why this is not the case.
“Gibtelecom aims to deliver the speeds it promises in contrast to many operators around Europe,” Mr Bado said.
“In Gibraltar we are planning that Gibtelecom customers should again broadly receive the broadband speeds for which they have contracted.”
INFRASTRUCTURE
Gibtelecom is currently in the final stages of a highly complex and substantial upgrade of its technical infrastructure, together with laying out the beginnings of a Next Generation Network (NGN) that should serve Gibraltar for many years to come. This has involved deploying new electronics throughout Gibtelecom’s network, including the core and remote concentrators which are geographically distributed around the Rock.
Gibtelecom is concurrently re-engineering its IP (internet protocol) core network, which is expected to be completed by September 2012, which will facilitate increasing broadband speeds even further.
“These projects are technically complex and require substantial investment in equipment and development resources” said Jansen Reyes, Gibtelecom’s NGN Manager, who is overseeing the deployment of the programme.
Mr Reyes, an experienced graduate engineer with top worldwide recognised internet qualifications, said the new platform had the capacity to ultimately deliver “VDSL2 speeds that will eventually transform the local offerings and pave the way for the introduction of multi-media services over telephone wires.”
Adrian Ochello, Gibtelecom’s Marketing and Business Development Manager, said Gibtelecom strived to introduce new technologies as quickly as possible.
“However, given the small size of Gibraltar, Gibtelecom does not benefit from the economies of scale or volumes enjoyed by telecoms operators in larger States,” he said.
“This results in the unit costs of new infrastructure and equipment being much more expensive as it is shared by a much smaller customer base, which explains why other countries are able to offer lower prices for their services.”
“Despite this Gibtelecom’s telephone fixed line rentals are still cheaper than leading operators in the UK and Spain.”
The top broadband speed will almost triple from 8Mbps to 20Mbps, while the speeds of the current Standard (1Mbps), Standard Plus (2Mbps) and Enhanced (8Mbps) broadband packages will be increased to 4Mbps, 8Mbps and 20Mbps respectively by September 2012.
As a first step Gibtelecom’s Standard and Standard Plus speeds will double in March to 2 Mbps and 4 Mbps respectively, whilst its Enhanced package customers will get a £10 reduction in their monthly rental.
“The first phase of deployment will enable Gibtelecom to cater for the demand for higher internet speeds from an increasingly ‘broadband-hungry’ Gibraltar, who require faster speeds to play interactive games, download media and other data intensive content,” said Xavi Bado, Gibtelecom’s Technical Director.
Mr Bado said Gibtelecom aimed to provide the speeds it was promising, unlike many other operators in Europe.
He cited a recent report on UK broadband services by the telecommunications regulator Ofcom revealed that most operators delivered significantly lower speeds than advertised.
This prompted the UK Advertising Standards Authority to adopt a code which from April 2012 will require speed claims to be achievable by at least 10% of an Internet Service Providers’ [ISP] customers.
Unless that target is met, advertising will have to include a statement with explanations why this is not the case.
“Gibtelecom aims to deliver the speeds it promises in contrast to many operators around Europe,” Mr Bado said.
“In Gibraltar we are planning that Gibtelecom customers should again broadly receive the broadband speeds for which they have contracted.”
INFRASTRUCTURE
Gibtelecom is currently in the final stages of a highly complex and substantial upgrade of its technical infrastructure, together with laying out the beginnings of a Next Generation Network (NGN) that should serve Gibraltar for many years to come. This has involved deploying new electronics throughout Gibtelecom’s network, including the core and remote concentrators which are geographically distributed around the Rock.
Gibtelecom is concurrently re-engineering its IP (internet protocol) core network, which is expected to be completed by September 2012, which will facilitate increasing broadband speeds even further.
“These projects are technically complex and require substantial investment in equipment and development resources” said Jansen Reyes, Gibtelecom’s NGN Manager, who is overseeing the deployment of the programme.
Mr Reyes, an experienced graduate engineer with top worldwide recognised internet qualifications, said the new platform had the capacity to ultimately deliver “VDSL2 speeds that will eventually transform the local offerings and pave the way for the introduction of multi-media services over telephone wires.”
Adrian Ochello, Gibtelecom’s Marketing and Business Development Manager, said Gibtelecom strived to introduce new technologies as quickly as possible.
“However, given the small size of Gibraltar, Gibtelecom does not benefit from the economies of scale or volumes enjoyed by telecoms operators in larger States,” he said.
“This results in the unit costs of new infrastructure and equipment being much more expensive as it is shared by a much smaller customer base, which explains why other countries are able to offer lower prices for their services.”
“Despite this Gibtelecom’s telephone fixed line rentals are still cheaper than leading operators in the UK and Spain.”
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