Cambridgeshire community signs deal to bring high-speed broadband to residents
A partnership between local residents and Openreach, BT’s local network business, is to make high-speed broadband available to more than 60 households in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire
Openreach will install new fibre optic cabling and Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technology for the project at The Heath, Gamlingay. The partnership is benefitting from the Government’s Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme which allows residents with internet speeds of less than 2Mbps, not included in any current fibre broadband programme, to get funding for better broadband.
The cost of bringing fibre broadband technology to residents has been covered by the scheme and investment from Openreach.
The faster speeds will be particularly welcomed by households wanting to connect several devices to the internet at the same time. Whether it’s downloading the latest TV box sets, Skyping friends and family, shopping or researching online, speedy access to the internet has never been more important.
The co-funded deal at The Heath, which sits on the boundary between Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, is expected to see the first residents get the higher speeds by the end of the year. It is part of BT’s Community Fibre Partnerships programme, which has already seen BT sign agreements with nearly 200 local communities and organisations to bring fibre broadband to some of the UK’s most challenging areas.
Gamlingay resident Catherine Drummond, who led the campaign for the upgrade, said: “Broadband speeds are more important now than ever before. Improving our internet speed is going to mean a massive improvement to people here. Once the work is complete, the technology will better support those working from home, we will be able to stream many of the exciting TV shows we've not been able to watch and won’t have to wait hours to download software updates. Everyone in The Heath is counting down the days until the upgrade.”
Bill Murphy, BT’s managing director for next generation access, said: “We are working with communities, such as The Heath, Gamlingay, up and down the country. Making fibre broadband available to communities is one of our top priorities and working directly with a group of residents like this is just one of the ways of making that happen. People here have shown great determination to make this happen and fibre broadband opens up endless opportunities for those living here.”
Kim Mears, Openreach’s managing director for infrastructure delivery, said: “It is great to be able to work with communities like The Heath, Gamlingay, to find a fibre broadband solution. We’re working on hundreds of similar community fibre partnership programmes across the UK, which are bringing faster fibre internet access to even more homes and businesses. Openreach is committed to making fibre broadband as widely available as possible in the UK to allow families and businesses to do even more online.”
Unlike some other companies, Openreach offers fibre broadband access to all service providers on an open, wholesale basis, which means that local households and businesses can benefit from competitive pricing and products from a wide range of providers.
More than nine out of ten premises across the UK can access superfast broadband speeds. For more details on the roll-out visit
https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-get-fibre.aspx
To find out how to help bring superfast broadband to your community visit
