Broadband East Riding Phase 2 will Enable Thousands More to Go Superfast This Year Press Release

Thousands more East Riding residents are set to be given access to superfast fibre broadband speeds this year.

To celebrate the launch of the second phase of the successful Broadband East Riding programme, Councillor Jonathan Owen, deputy leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and David Calvert, senior project manager for BT, visited Cardigan Road, Bridlington, the site of the first superfast broadband cabinet to go live as part of Phase 2.

Since Phase 2 started, more than23 cabinets have been enabled, giving over 1,000 East Riding premises access to superfast broadband. Around a further 2000 premises will benefit by the end of this year.

By June 2017, Phase 2 is set to make superfast broadband available to over 4,500 premises across the county.

Phase 1 of Broadband East Riding saw more than 42,000 households and businesses get access to superfast broadband, of which more than 12,000 have already chosen to upgrade their broadband to enjoy the benefits of the faster speeds.

Across East Riding, the project has installed more than 240 fibre cabinets, connected by more than 180 miles of underground fibre duct. And more than 40 exchange areas are now ‘live’ with fibre broadband.

Councillor Jonathan Owen, deputy leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “The council is pleased to be working in partnership with BT to make superfast broadband available to even more homes and businesses in the East Riding.

“Good, reliable internet connection is vitally important to many aspects of modern life, whether that be keeping in contact with family and friends or for businesses to remain competitive and provide timely services and products for customers.

“As the switchover to superfast is not automatic, the council strongly advises people to check their postcode at broadband.eastriding.gov.uk to identify if they are eligible to switch over and to then shop around for the best deal with an internet service provider of their choice.”

Derek Richardson, programme director for Openreach, BT’s local network business, responsible for building East Riding’s new fibre infrastructure, added: “The rollout is continuing apace and this second phase will allow us to reach further into the more remote and rural parts of the county.

“Small businesses form a key part of the local economy in mainly rural counties like East Riding. Faster broadband breaks down barriers to doing business in the digital world like online trading, which helps to empower these small businesses to find new markets, sell new products, try new models and compete on an equal footing with larger businesses.”

For local businesses, the fibre network will underpin the introduction of many new services and applications. Big business applications driven by new cloud services will be within the reach of enterprises of all sizes. Computer back up, storage and processing will be faster, and the use of high-quality videoconferencing will become a viable possibility.

Further benefits of faster broadband include households and businesses being able to use multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time, and send and receive large amounts of data much more quickly and efficiently. This will make things like gaming, watching BBC iPlayer or downloading films and music much quicker and without buffering or screen freeze.

Residents can quickly find out if superfast broadband is available by using the postcode checker at broadband.eastriding.gov.uk

The website can also direct residents on how to find the best deal on superfast broadband with an internet service provider of their choice.

In addition to superfast broadband, the UK Government has developed The Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme, for residents and businesses that are unable to access download speeds of at least 2mbps.

Residents and businesses may be entitled to a voucher, up to the value of £350, which can help cover the costs to install alternative broadband technologies, such as satellite and wireless.

To check eligibility and to take advantage of a basic broadband installation subsidy, visit www.broadband.eastriding.gov.uk/rollout/better-broadband-scheme/