NTL has started testing the provision of HDTV services over ADSL2+.

In a financial presentation, Britain's biggest cable operator confirmed that the trials of ADSL2+ had first started in February with a view to providing Internet access speeds of over 18Mbps downstream. The top tier of consumer broadband service currently available to NTL customers is 3Mbps downstream.

The company now says that it is trialling video-on-demand HDTV services on this platform.

ADSL2+ runs over the copper wires that accompany NTL's co-axial cables. NTL took the decision to include them in its cable network to provide phone service, but is now seeking to make further use of the technology. The company notes that DSL technologies such as ADSL2+ would allow it to avoid an expensive "fibre to the home" build process; instead, it can make better use of its existing network.

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