15
December
2016
|
07:07
Europe/London

Demand for high-speed broadband doubles as more Shropshire residents and businesses opt for a fibre Christmas

Summary
The number of homes and businesses across Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin opting for a fibre broadband upgrade has more than doubled in the past two years, with around 50,000 local premises now using the technology, according to BT figures.

The number of people in Shropshire enjoying the benefits of faster fibre broadband has more than doubled in the past two years, according to new figures announced by BT.

Around 50,000* households and businesses across Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin are now using the high-speed technology – up from around 22,000 in December 2014.

In the past 12 months alone, around 15,000 have opted for an upgrade – equivalent to nearly 300 new fibre broadband users a week.

The wide-ranging benefits of using the technology include:

  • High quality, speedy online access when connecting several devices to the internet at the same time;
  • Playing games, streaming music and watching catch-up television;
  • Using the internet for homework, shopping, banking and other services more quickly and easily, without worrying about pages freezing;
  • Being able to share large files and photos via email and over the internet.

Ian Binks, BT’s regional manager for Shropshire and the West Midlands, said: “At this busy time of the year, it’s especially great that so many households and businesses are now choosing faster fibre broadband.

“Whether you’re doing some Christmas shopping online, ‘clicking and collecting’, working from home, or using the internet to stay in touch with customers, colleagues or loved ones, all those things are easier, faster and better with fibre broadband.

“More than 181,000 premises across Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin are now able to access faster fibre broadband as a result of the multi-million pound investment by ourselves and our partners in the public sector, including Government and local authorities - and that figure is continuing to rise.

“In the meantime, we’re working hard to find solutions for any communities not yet covered by any public or private sector broadband roll-out.”

The fibre optic network being installed by Openreach, BT’s local network business, is ‘open’, which means local households and businesses opting for an upgrade have a wide choice of fibre broadband providers, and so can benefit from competitive pricing and products.

Note to Editors

*The figures quoted refer to households and businesses that have chosen to be upgraded to faster fibre broadband as a result of BT’s commercial roll-out or as a result of being able to access the technology through a public-private sector partnership programme, in which BT is a co-funding partner.

Openreach – BT’s local network business - is deploying a mixture of technologies. These include Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC), which provides download speeds of up to 80Mbps and download speeds of up to 20Mbps, and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology, a service capable of delivering download speeds of up to one gigabit per second (Gbps).

In addition there are some premises that are currently connected directly to the telephone exchange rather than via a green roadside cabinet, sometimes known as Exchange Only (EO) lines. In order to connect EO lines, further roadside cabinets have to be installed.

Speeds referred to are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.

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Issued by the BT regional press office. For more information please contact:

Emma Tennant at the BT regional press office on 0800 085 0660 or email: emma.tennant@bt.com Twitter:@EmmaTennantBT

About BT

BT’s purpose is to use the power of communications to make a better world. It is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed-mobile products and services.BT consists of six customer-facing lines of business: Consumer, EE, Business and Public Sector, Global Services, Wholesale and Ventures, and Openreach.

For the year ended 31 March 2016, BT Group’s reported revenue was £19,042m with reported profit before taxation of £3,029m.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

For more information, visit www.btplc.com

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