Demand for high-speed fibre broadband doubles as eSussex reaches more than 73,000 homes and businesses
More than a third of residents (37 per cent) in the eSussex project area already taken up fibre broadband
East Sussex County Council and BT have successfully achieved the first phase of their plans to improve county-wide digital connectivity in order to support economic growth and prosperity for local communities.The eSussex project has made fibre broadband available to more than 73,000 homes and businesses, including Isfield which previously only had dial up internet access.
Demand is also growing rapidly. Latest figures show the number of households and businesses choosing to take up the high-speed technology in the eSussex fibre broadband partnership area has almost doubled in the past 18 months from 19 per cent to 37 per cent.
When BT’s own commercial fibre roll-out is also included it means that the high-speed technology is now available to more than 380,000 East Sussex premises.
The eSussex project isn’t stopping there.A second phase is underway to further extend the network and improve speeds for those who haven’t yet benefitted from faster broadband.
Councillor Rupert Simmons, lead member for economy, said: “As a result of the Council’s pro-active positive ambitions for the County, by the end of 2017 we expect that some 95 per cent of homes and business will have access to faster, more reliable fibre broadband.This couldn’t have been achieved without the Council having had such a high ambition for the County and committing funding to the project along with the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme and BT.We’re not stopping there; Cabinet has approved a further phase of the project which is now being developed.I’m delighted that ourcommunities are taking advantage of the new fibre connectivity now available to them, and have no doubt that take up of services will continue to grow.”
Stacey King, BT’s regional partnership director for the South East, said: “It’s great news to see that the fibre broadband rollout in East Sussex is proving to be so popular. Fibre broadband helps make everything happen online much faster than a standard broadband connection. The technology really does have the ability to transform the way people and businesses use the internet.”
All of the engineering work for the eSussex fibre broadband project is being carried out by Openreach, BT’s local network business. This means residents and businesses with access to fibre broadband can choose from a wide range of internet service providers and benefit from competitive pricing and products.
