14
November
2016
|
11:15
Europe/London

Isle of Wight - Demand for high-speed fibre broadband soars with multi million pound Isle of Wight project

Summary
Quarter of residents (25%) on the Island take up fibre broadband Seaview yacht club on ‘Cloud’ nine More people on the Isle of Wight are signing-up for high-speed fibre broadband than ever before, thanks to the work of the Isle of Wight’s multi million pound rural broadband project.

Quarter of residents (25%) on the Island take up fibre broadband

Seaview yacht club on ‘Cloud’ nine

More people on the Isle of Wight are signing-up for high-speed fibre broadband than ever before, thanks to the work of the Isle of Wight’s multi million pound rural broadband project.

The multi-million pound partnership between the Isle of Wight Council and BT, which has made fibre-optic technology available to 99 per cent of homes and businesses on the island, has seen local demand for fibre broadband soar.

The number of households and businesses using the faster connections on the Isle of Wight has more than doubled in the past year with more than 25 per cent now signed up tofibre broadband compared to 11 per cent just 12 months ago.

Jamie Nimmo, secretary of the Sea View Yacht Club, said: “Fibre broadband has dramatically changed my business. My favourite feature is the new cloud based webcam, which shows our yacht races to members and we use it to help decide photo-finishes and false starts with more accuracy. I can also offer my customers wi-fi, which is important to all of our members, particularly business people, who need to be able to work online at the club. I also contact my 1,700 members with our newsletter at the click of a button, which cuts down on admin time.”

Some of the most recent areas to benefit from the fibre broadband rollout include parts of Limerstone, the Kemming Road area of Niton and Ningwood Hill.

Stacey King, BT’s regional partnership director for the South East, said: “We are delighted the fibre broadband rollout on the Isle of Wight is proving to be so popular. It is great to see that ordinary people are really benefitting. The technology really does have the ability to transform the way people and businesses use the internet.”

Fibre broadband helps make everything happen online much faster than a standard broadband connection. The technology offers download speeds up to 80Mbps.

All of the engineering work for the Isle of Wight 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.

The multi-million pound rural broadband partnership is jointly funded by the Isle of Wight Council, which has been investing £2.4 million to match the funding provided by the UK government through the Broadband Delivery UK programme - and BT, which was contributing capital and ongoing revenue funding of £2.7 million.

More information on the Isle of Wight project and the availability of fibre broadband can be found at: www.iwight.com/broadband