New Superfast Cornwall broadband roll-out reaches dozens of communities
The pioneering Superfast Cornwall partnership today announced that it had made superfast broadband available to a further 1,450 households and businesses in 25 Cornish communities.
It is the start of the next phase of the fibre broadband roll-out in Cornwall, which will see £7.6 million invested to reach more than 8,000 further premises in some of the county’s most challenging locations by early 2018.
Notes to Editors: a full list of the 25 communities is shown at the end of this news release.
In this latest phase, Cornwall Council and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is investing alongside the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme and BT.
It follows the £132 million first phase of the Superfast Cornwall programme, funded by the EU, BT and Cornwall Council, which made Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly one of the best digitally connected rural areas in Europe with 95 per cent fibre broadband coverage and nearly one in three Cornish households and businesses having access to ultrafast speeds due to the widespread availability of fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband.
Julian German, Cornwall Council's cabinet member for economy and culture, said: “Cornwall Council remains committed to the challenging target of ensuring that every property has access to fast, reliable broadband, and these latest areas to be enabled represent another step forward into some of the most challenging rural parts of Cornwall.”
Mark Duddridge, chairman of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Superfast broadband is critical to developing our fast-growing digital economy which is why the LEP is investing £1.5m from our Growth Deal and the Regional Growth Fund as part of this latest roll-out.”
Ranulf Scarbrough, Superfast Cornwall programme director for BT,said: “Superfast Cornwall has already made Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly the envy of rural areas across Europe. Now this latest phase includes some of the most challenging locations in the county. It shows our commitment to making faster broadband as widely available as possible. Superfast broadband is already making an important contribution to the economic success of this area because, whatever you do online, you can do it better with fibre broadband.”
All of the engineering work for Superfast Cornwall 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.
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Notes to editors
Communities benefitting from latest Superfast Cornwall roll-out:Tregony; North Tamerton; Lanivet; Carkeel; Brighton, near Rumford; Golitha Rise and Heathlands Business Park, Liskeard; Four Lanes and Sandy Lane near Redruth; Connor Downs near Camborne; Tresean/Treworgans, near Crantock; Trevelmond and Pengelly, near Dobwalls; Lanjeth near St Austell; Stoke Climsland; Widegates; Turfdown, Helland and Treffry, near Bodmin;Trebetherick; No Mans Land, Lower Clicker and Morval, near Widegates; Latchbrook, Saltash; and Fraddon.
Superfast Cornwall:
The first phase of the Superfast Cornwall programme was part financed by the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Convergence European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government was the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.gov.uk/browse/business/funding-debt/european-regional-development-funding
The latest phase of the Superfast Cornwall programme comprises £2.96 million from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) Superfast Extension Programme, £1.87 million from Cornwall Council, £1 million from the Growth Deal, £500,000 from the Regional Growth Fund and £1.23 million from BT.
