In June 2004 BT first announced its plans to move its entire customer base on to an IP-based network. The move was the first time that a major carrier had agreed to totally abandon a traditional public switched telephone network in favor of an IP-based network.
BT is spending roughly 10bn pounds ($18.9bn) through to 2009 on the 21CN project, with the first live 21CN operation scheduled for November.
BT said that in its latest trial stage of 21CN, more than 625,000 live customer calls are currently being handled every day. The volume of calls being handled by the trial platform will represent around 1% of BT’s current PSTN trunk network call traffic.
The trial involves the use of an IP link to carry voice calls between two major network nodes at Cambridge and Woolwich. Calls are carried using IP packet technology rather than the circuit switched technology used on the traditional analog telephone network.
According to BT Wholesale Networks’ managing director, Deb Covey, the carrier is working with the rest of the industry to finalize the UK roll-out plan. It’s full steam ahead as we prepare sites across the country for equipment to be installed this summer.
BT said that it had already installed multi-service access nodes from Huawei and Fujitsu, which are carrying voice services onto the core network from trial customer lines. This equipment is being installed at 18 exchanges in South East London, Kent, and East Anglia.
Meanwhile, BT also revealed that it has signed another content deal for its forthcoming IPTV service known as BT Vision. The content deal with NBC Universal Pictures will allow it to provide on-demand movies and TV shows.
