BT braced for surge in demand for high-speed internet

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BT braced for surge in demand for high-speed internet as households upgrade to new games consoles

By Alex Lawson, Financial Mail On Sunday

Published: | Updated:

BT is braced for a surge in demand for high-speed internet as hundreds of thousands of households upgrade to new games consoles. 

Microsoft’s flagship Xbox Series X will be released on Tuesday, and Sony’s PlayStation 5 on Thursday week. 

Openreach, BT’s infrastructure arm, expects gamers to upgrade their broadband deal accordingly. 

Demand: Openreach, BT’s infrastructure arm, expects gamers to upgrade their broadband deal accordingly

Openreach director Olly Kunc said: ‘The big thing for us is Black Friday. It’s incredibly busy with people buying PlayStations and big TVs, and they want them all connected to higher speeds.

‘If lockdown continues into December and we get high volumes of sales pre-Christmas that’s going to be a challenge. But we’re prepared.’ 

Kunc said fixing connections in winter would prove tougher than in the mild spring of the first lockdown. 

He said Openreach would focus on quick jobs involving minimal time in customers’ homes, adding: ‘We don’t want to become Covid super spreaders. Our priority is keeping staff and public safe.’

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