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By Graeme Wearden, 16 February 2007 09:15

NEWS

Be, the next-generation broadband network operator purchased by O2 last June, has extended its network to reach a third of the UK population.

Be announced this week it has now installed its equipment in 500 BT telephone exchanges. This allows it to offer its ADSL2+ broadband services to roughly 33 per cent of the population.

ADSL2+ is a faster broadband technology, which provides speeds up to a theoretical maximum of 24Mbps. This is three times faster than standard ADSL broadband, which is available to more than 99 per cent of the UK population through BT.

Be is aiming to install its equipment in a further 300 exchanges - via a process known as local-loop unbundling - by the end of this summer. This will raise its network coverage to 50 per cent of the population. The takeover of Be is a key part of O2's strategy to become a converged communications company, and not just one that offers mobile services.

However, Be has also attracted controversy. Last month it was criticised by the Advertising Standards Agency for misleading customers, after not making it clear customers could only get 24Mbps speeds if they lived very close to their telephone exchange. Be customers have also complained of network outages. In March 2006 it apologised after its network crashed.

Be's ADSL2+ network now covers the following locations: Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Coventry, Croydon, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hemel Hempstead, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Nottingham, Preston, Reading, Sheffield, Slough, Southampton, Tunbridge Wells and Warrington.

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK