07
September
2015
|
14:09
Europe/London

MP Welcomes "Brilliant" Arrival of Superfast Broadband

Summary
Superfast fibre broadband has arrived in the East Devon village of Tipton St John as part of a rollout programme by Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS). More than 315 households and businesses can now benefit from fibre broadband after the installation of the first street fibre broadband cabinet serving the centre of the village.

07/09/2015

HUGO SWIRE MP WELCOMES “BRILLIANT” ARRIVAL OF SUPERFAST BROADBAND IN TIPTON ST JOHN

More than 315 businesses and households in Tipton St. John now have access to faster broadband for the first time

Superfast fibre broadband has arrived in the East Devon village of Tipton St John as part of a rollout programme by Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS).

More than 315 households and businesses can now benefit from fibre broadband after the installation of the first street fibre broadband cabinet serving the centre of the village. The CDS programme aims to make superfast broadband speeds of 24Mbps and above available to around 90 per cent of Devon and Somerset homes and businesses by the end of 2016.

East Devon MP Hugo Swire, praised the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme for hitting “ambitious targets” for the rollout of fibre broadband in the region.

Speaking on a visit to the broadband cabinet in Tipton St John, Mr Swire said: “It’s brilliant to see Tipton St John as the latest East Devon community to be connected.”

His visit highlighted the “benefits to all generations” of living in a superfast community.

“Children, parents, grandparents and businesses all benefit from fibre broadband, and I want to see Tipton St. John as symbolic of why we want to encourage people to stay on in this part of Devon and enjoy the same benefits and speeds of urban areas, whilst bringing up their families in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.”

In the two counties, 872 street cabinets have now been connected to the fibre broadband network by the CDS partnership, which means more than 195,000 premises now have access to fibre broadband as a result of this ambitious programme.

Local villager Dianne Mann, owns a holiday let business in the village and is one of the first residents in the area to benefit from the rollout. Dianne, said: “As a rural business operating from home, poor internet connection has always limited our incentive to modernise, but thanks to Connecting Devon and Somerset we can now take our operations online.

“Thanks to the stable connection, the ability to work from home has greatly improved. The new superfast service allows us to manage our customer bookings more efficiently and guests are able to take full advantage of our free Wi-Fi.From a personal perspective, no-one needs to check if the other is using the internet at home, and we are able to use multiple devices for emails, web browsing, and watching on demand TV and films.”

Councillor Claire Wright, East Devon DistrictCouncillorand Devon CountyCouncillor for Ottery St Mary, said: “The Connecting Devon and Somerset programme, through Devon County Council, is now really taking off and linking up many villages to faster broadband.

“Tipton St John residents have been waiting patiently for faster broadband speeds and it is brilliant news that they have now been connected. Many people work from home across Ottery Rural – as in other parts of Devon – and superfast broadband is vital to the growth of the local economy.”

Former Parish councillor John Harding has been championing the importance of broadband for the community. He said: “Since the notification of installation a high number of residents have already applied to their internet service providers and signed up for this new high speed broadband.

“Aside from the superfast speed, cost and stability were two of the most significant motivating factors behind broadband uptake in the village. The village has a number of businesses and home workers for whom fast broadband is now a necessity. It’s no longer acceptable for rural communities like ours to be in the slow lane where technological development is concerned. We commend Connecting Devon and Somerset for achieving this installation with minimal disruption to the village.”

Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, cabinet member for Economy and Growth for Devon County Council, said:“The Connecting Devon and Somerset project to build a fibre network around the county is on schedule, literally connecting the county to the world. This is a significant step for Tipton St John. The benefits superfast broadband can bring are enormous – more and more, we find that people are reliant on high speeds for business and home life, and we’re ahead of the curve in being able to offer this. We recognise that a small number of residents in the village are still unable to connect to the service. There is still a lot of work to do, but we hope the next phase of the programme will increase coverage further.”

Paul Coles, BT’s South West regional manager, said: “The rollout of fibre broadband is already reaching many of the most rural locations in the region.More than 390,000 Devon households and businesses now have access to fibre broadband as a result of the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme and BT’s own commercial rollout - and the number is continuing to grow rapidly.Our engineers are working hard to make this exciting technology widely available across the region and we’re delighted to see it so well-received in Tipton St John. Superfast broadband is making a major contribution to the future success and prosperity of the South West. Businesses can use it to boost their competitiveness, whilst households can benefit from enhanced online learning and entertainment. Whatever you do online you can do it better with fibre broadband.”

For more information about the Connecting Devon and Somerset rollout, people can go to www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk to read the latest details.

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ENDS

For further information please contact: Sofia Costa, JBP email: or 0117 907 6510

For BT enquiries contact the BT Regional Press Office on 0800 085 0660. All news releases can be accessed at our web site: http://www.bt.com/newscentre

  • * These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.Most of the programme will be Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology, where the fibre runs from the telephone exchange to a fibre optic street cabinet.
  • It can deliver download speeds of up to 80Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.These are the top wholesale speeds available to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
  • The new network is available on an open, wholesale basis to all broadband service providers. Households and businesses wishing to place an order or find out more about fibre broadband should contact their service provider.

    About Connecting Devon and Somerset

    Councils across Devon and Somerset are working together to bring faster broadband to the area and deliver improved broadband for rural Devon and Somerset – the “final third” – rural areas that are unlikely to benefit from commercial investment in broadband.

    The Connecting Devon and Somerset Programme covers Devon County Council, Somerset County Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Plymouth City Council, Torbay Council, and North Somerset Council areas.

    In 2011 the programme secured £32 million of funding from the government agency Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and both Somerset and Devon County Councils put in £10 million each. Further funding from Bath and North East Somerset Council brought the public sector total close to £53 million. With the £41 million additional investment from BT the Programme is investing £94 million to improve broadband connectivity.

    In 2014 BDUK announced a further £22.75m allocated to the CDS programme to support the extension of superfast broadband coverage to 95 per cent of premises nationally. This has been matched locally, which means the programme has over £45 million further to invest in bringing superfast broadband to the area.

    For more information, visit www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk

    About “Get up to Speed”

    The ‘Get up to Speed’ service is delivered by the Cosmic Peninsula Consortium on behalf of Connecting Devon and Somerset. The newly established consortium, formed by Peninsula Enterprise and Cosmic IT, will undertake a series of workshops and events that will follow the infrastructure roll out as it moves across Devon and Somerset, helping businesses and individuals’ access information and develop the skills they need to get the most from the faster broadband speeds.

    For more information please visit www.get-up-to-speed.co.uk

    About Superfast Britain

    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, visit https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk