08
December
2016
|
09:09
Europe/London

Cornwall leads the way as Openreach announces more ultrafast broadband pilot areas

Summary
People living in St Austell will be amongst the first in the UK to benefit from a new ultrafast broadband technology being developed by Openreach, BT’s local network business. The company has announced the Cornish town as a pilot location for its new ultrafast technology, known as G.fast, which provides download speeds of up to 330Mbps – more than 10 times the UK national average

People living in St Austell will be amongst the first in the UK to benefit from a new ultrafast broadband technology being developed by Openreach, BT’s local network business.

The company has announced the Cornish town as a pilot location for its new ultrafast technology, known as G.fast, which provides download speeds of up to 330Mbps – more than 10 times the UK national average.

Openreach plans to make G.fast available to more than 10 million UK homes and businesses by the end of 2020.

Thousands of premises in St Austell will be given access to the technology during 2017 with details about exactly where and when to be published shortly.

News of the pilot has been given a warm welcome by Cornwall Council.

Julian German, cabinet member for economy and culture at Cornwall Council, said: “This is more great news for Cornwall. We already have a great reputation for pioneering initiatives, such as the Superfast Cornwall broadband partnership, which has made Cornwall one of the best connected rural areas in Europe.

“Now we are seeing Cornwall play a leading role in the development of this exciting G.fast technology. High-speed broadband is making a major contribution to the success and prosperity of Cornwall – and all this is just the start of a very exciting journey, which is transforming the opportunities for households and businesses across Cornwall.”

Clive Selley, Openreach’s chief executive, said: “The UK already leads the way when it comes to superfast broadband. More than nine out of ten homes and businesses already have access to superfast speeds with another 20,000 more premises being enabled each week, and we’re working hard to reach the rest, as well as starting to roll out ultrafast speeds.

“I’m delighted St Austell will be one of the first locations to get ultrafast speeds using G.fast technology. It’s a technology we’ve chosen because it enables us to get an affordable ultrafast service to as many people as possible in the fastest possible time.”

Early trials of G.fast have been taking place in Cambridgeshire, Newcastle and South Wales, and Openreach has just announced the 17 pilot areas – including St Austell – to reach around 140,000 homes and businesses during 2017.Superfast Cornwall, a multimillion pound partnership between the European Union, BT and Cornwall Council has already made fibre broadband available to 95 per cent of Cornish homes and businesses.

Across the UK, more homes and businesses are now using superfast broadband than in Germany, France, Italy or Spain, and the UK outperforms the EU’s five largest economies on measures such as availability, speeds and take-up according to Ofcom[1].

You can find out more about G.fast at openreach.co.uk/ultrafast.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The 17 pilot locations are:

  1. Bolton, Greater Manchester
  2. Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire
  3. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
  4. Derby, Derbyshire
  5. Donaldson, South East Scotland
  6. Gillingham, Kent
  7. Gosforth, Tyne & Wear
  8. Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
  9. Langside, Glasgow
  10. Luton, Bedfordshire
  11. Rusholme, Manchester
  12. St. Austell, Cornwall
  13. Swansea, Wales
  14. Swindon, Wiltshire
  15. Sheffield
  16. Balham, London
  17. Upton Park, London

[1]**Ofcom’s European Broadband Scorecard shows the UK is ranked as leader of the five major EU economies - France, Germany, Italy, Spain - on a range of independent broadband measures