CSW broadband announces next communities to get high-speed fibre broadband
Curdworth, Harbury, Hurley, Kineton and Newton Regis are among next communities to benefit
The next communities to benefit from the multi-million pound CSW Broadband project were announced today by partners Warwickshire County Council and BT.
High-speed fibre broadband will be available for the first time in: Curdworth, Harbury, Hurley, Kineton and Newton Regis. Additional premises in Coleshill, Southam and Wellesbourne will also have access for the first time.
At the same time, parts of Leamington Spa, Nuneaton and Stratford-upon-Avon not previously covered by any commercial fibre roll-out will also be enabled as part of the CSW Broadband Partnership.
Snitterfield was the first community to ‘go live’ as part of the CSW Broadband project in April. Since then the roll-out has progressed well, and as a result high-speed fibre broadband has also been made available for the first time in Coleshill, Pebworth, Snitterfield, and Welford-on-Avon.
To date around 40 cabinets have been installed across the project area by engineers working for Openreach – BT’s network business – with the total due to rise to more than 90 by the end of the year. These new street-side structures are needed to connect people onto the new fibre optic network. The CSW Broadband project is bringing fibre broadband to those areas that were not considered to be viable under the commercial rollout programme and will mean that those living in rural or hard to reach areas will now be able to benefit from faster and more reliable broadband services. In addition, more than 63 kilometres of fibre optic cables have been laid bringing high-speed broadband to within reach of more than 7,500 premises in total.
Because Openreach’s network is ‘open’, local people wanting to opt for an upgrade can choose from more than 140 communications providers, ensuring competitive prices, and access to download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second (Mbps) and uploads of up to 20 Mbps*.
Councillor Alan Cockburn, Deputy Leader of Warwickshire County Council, said: “The project is currently ahead of schedule and many of our residents and businesses are now able to connect to the fibre network and really benefit from improved communications. This makes a real difference to the quality of life for so many people as it reduces the need to travel and makes everyday tasks such as Internet banking, ordering prescriptions on-line and working from home a reality rather than a dream. We are doing our best to extend the reach of the network and hope to make further announcements in the near future.”
Bill Murphy, BT’s managing director of next generation access, said: “This is a huge engineering programme but work has been progressing extremely well during the 12 months since the partnership was launched. Today’s announcement is an important step forward for a multi-million pound partnership which will help transform broadband communications in Warwickshire. This exciting technology will provide a major boost to the local area.
“Families will benefit, for example, by being able to use multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time within one household. It will also enable more people to work from home. New fibre services are set to transform the way businesses and consumers use the internet. Whatever you do online you can do more and do it faster with fibre broadband.”
CSW Broadband is a £15.47 million partnership between Warwickshire County Council and its five district and borough councils, with Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, BT and the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme.
The CSW Broadband partnership will ensure around 40,000 premises in the project area have access to super-fast broadband. When combined with private sector investments, 91 cent of the area’s homes and businesses will have access to super-fast broadband by Spring 2016. Updates on the roll-out of CSW Broadband are available on the programme website: http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk
Notes to Editors
*These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
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About CSW Broadband - http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk
CSW Broadband is a partnership of eight Local Authorities (Coventry, Solihull, Warwickshire and the Boroughs and Districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford on Avon).
The project office is hosted by Warwickshire County Council and is based in Warwick. The project team can be contacted on 01926 738339 or broadband@warwickshire.gov.uk
The CSW Superfast Broadband Programme is in addition to, and separate from, Coventry City Council’s ‘Super Connected Cities’ Programme.
Superfast Britain is a Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race. The portfolio is comprised of three elements:
* £780m to extend superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017
* £150m to provide high speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities
* £150m to improve quality and coverage of mobile phone and basic data network services
Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of life. For further information: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk
