Christmas comes early in Cawthorne as superfast fibre broadband arrives

Christmas has come early for people living and working in Cawthorne as superfast, fibre broadband has arrived in the village, thanks to Superfast South Yorkshire.

Children from Cawthorne Church Of England (VC) Primary School, joined members of the Superfast South Yorkshire team, to officially ‘switch on’ the new street cabinet, which is bringing faster fibre broadband to more than 400 homes and businesses. A further 155 premises in the village will also get access to the new technology in the New Year.

Across the Barnsley area, high-speed, fibre broadband is now available to more than 1,400 households and businesses in locations such as Rockingham, Sprotbrough, Monk Bretton and Royston. And the roll-out continues with more than 2,000 further premises set to be upgraded in the next six months.

Natalie Ward, programme manager for Superfast South Yorkshire, said:“It is excellent news that people living and working in Cawthorne will now be able to take advantage of the many benefits of fibre broadband.

“For the children with us here today, high-speed connectivity is vital both at school and at home. Use of the internet now touches every part of the school curriculum with pupils using it every day for everything from interactive exercises to doing online research for school projects and a variety of other schoolwork. Without fast connectivity and speeds, there is the risk that children will miss out on what is now an essential learning tool,

“Digital technology is increasingly important in helping young people equip themselves for their future and this technology will help them keep up with the rapid advancements being made.”

Tom Keeney, BT’s regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, added: “Our lives are more connected than ever before. More and more appliances and gadgets – phones, broadband enabled TVs, tablets, games consoles, many of which will be bought as presents this Christmas – work best with a high-speed internet connection. Sharing photos with friends, streaming HD movies and video calls with family and friends can be carried out more quickly and effectively with this exciting technology so now is the ideal time to make the switch to superfast broadband.”

Fibre broadband at home means everyone in the family can do their own thing online, all at the same time, whether it’s quick downloading of music, watching catch-up TV, streaming HD or 3D movies or posting photos and videos to social networking sites in seconds. Fibre improves the quality of online experiences and supports new developments in internet services.Benefits for businesses include faster file and data transfers, better access to cloud computing services and software, more sophisticated web-based contact with customers and support for more flexible working.

The Superfast South Yorkshire project has enabled more than 476,000 households and businesses access to high-speed fibre broadband as a result of Superfast South Yorkshire and BT’s own commercial fibre broadband programme.

All of the engineering work is being carried out by Openreach, BT’s local network business, and as the network is open it provides residents and businesses with access to fibre broadband via a wide range of internet service providers, offering the benefit of competitive pricing and products.

Superfast South Yorkshire was formed in September 2014 as local authorities joined forces with BT in a £22 million deal to extend the availability of high-speed, fibre broadband. A further £4.8 million in additional funding has been secured which will extend the reach of fibre broadband to 99 per cent of South Yorkshire. The project is jointly funded by Sheffield City Region LEP, the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) fund and BT.

For further information on the Superfast South Yorkshire programme visit http://www.superfastsouthyorkshire.co.uk

.