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BT has announced plans to run a technical trial of one gigabit per second broadband next year, marking the fastest residential broadband speed over fibre in the world.

The company will launch the 1GBps trial in early 2011 in Kesgrave, Suffolk as a way to demonstrate the maximum speed capable over its Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) product.

The connection will deliver downstream speeds of 1GBps and upstream speeds of 400Mbps to businesses and consumers, subject to "appropriate network conditions and customer equipment". 



The speeds under trial are ten times faster than BT's standard FTTP product, which will launch commercially next year. The project will also dwarf the 200Mpbs broadband currently being testedby Virgin Media in Ashford, Kent. 

BT wants to show its commitment to the government's target of bringing high-speed broadband to two-thirds of UK homes by 2015, including hard-to-reach rural areas. 

The company has pledged to invest £2.5 billion in the rollout of fibre broadband and will connect up to 40 market towns to its fibre network from late 2011/early 2012. BT will also work with the government to find ways to connect the remaining third of UK households.

The government has set aside £830 million over the course of this parliament and the next to fund broadband rollout projects and BT hopes to win some of that money. 

The firm believes that with some "supplementary funding" it could extend its fibre network to cover 90% of UK premises, but only as long as there are no "unfavourable changes to the investment or regulatory environment". 

Ahead of his broadband speech on Monday, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "BT's fantastic range of measures would, on top of the £830 million the government is investing, go a huge way to delivering our ambition for the UK to have the best broadband system in Europe by 2015. 

"BT has said it will contribute further funding to supplement any of the public money the company may win when we hold tenders for rolling out rural broadband. It's a great example of public funding and initiative stimulating private sector investment."

Hunt added: "A super-fast broadband network is vital to the country's economic growth and the development of our high tech and creative industries, as well as the reform of public services. 

"I will be setting out on Monday how we can do even more to boost broadband rollout - by stimulating competition and creating an environment in which business can flourish by removing barriers and cutting costs."

BT's director of strategy Olivia Garfield said that the telecoms giant is committed to "pushing the limits" of its broadband network in terms of technology and geography. 

She accepted that "everyday consumers" will not require broadband as fast as 1GBps, but said that the trial will show BT's fibre network is "fully future proofed".

"By evolving our deployment model for fibre we have been able to push the geographical boundaries of super-fast broadband. It allows us to build a commercial case for rolling out fibre to selected towns in rural areas to satisfy the growing appetite for faster broadband speeds," said Garfield. 

"Both of these developments will further advance BT's super-fast broadband vision and will assist the government in achieving its aim of creating the best super-fast broadband network in Europe."

In October, Ofcom ordered BT to open up its fibre-optic network to competing broadband providers to help drive forward the rollout of high-speed internet services in the UK.