Super-fast broadband boost for Amble
Thousands of homes and businesses in the coastal town can now access fibre broadband; news welcomed by Amble Development Trust
Super-fast broadband has arrived in Amble BT announced today. More than 2000 homes and businesses now have access to the high-speed technology – and this figure will increase to around 3,250 as engineers complete the local upgrade in the weeks ahead. Today, the BT investment was welcomed by Julia Aston, director of the Amble Development Trust. She said: “This is wonderful news for Amble. The improved infrastructure providing superfast broadband will aide existing businesses, helping them to grow by giving them a level playing field with city based companies.
“It will hopefully encourage new ones to relocate to the town, when they see the opportunity of achieving that elusive work life balance. After all why would anyone want to live in the city when they can have it all in Amble?”
Seaton Delaval and Berwick are also due to be upgraded and by the end of Spring 2014 more than 98,000 homes and businesses across Northumberland will able to benefit as a result of BT’s £2.5 billion fibre roll-out programme.
BT is also working in partnership with Northumberland County Council to reach parts of Northumberland that lie outside its commercial footprint. In April 2013 BT signed a £18.9 million deal to transform broadband speeds for businesses and residents across the county .
The project, iNorthumberland, will see 95 per cent of Northumberland homes and businesses gain access to fibre broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps by the end of January 2016.
Farooq Hakim, BT regional director for the North East, said: “This is exciting news for everyone who lives and works in Amble. Fibre broadband will open the doors to countless business opportunities, boosting the economy and supporting the thriving local community.
“It is great news for residents who will be able to access new job opportunities, and shop around for cheaper services. Fibre is transforming the way we use the internet at home, from communicating with family and friends to entertainment, shopping and online gaming.”
BT’s fibre footprint currently passes more than 17 million UK homes and businesses. It’s due to pass two-thirds of UK premises – around 19 million premises – by the end of Spring 2014, at least 18 months ahead of the original timetable.1
Openreach, BT’s local network business, is primarily deploying fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology, where the fibre runs from the exchange to a local roadside cabinet. In addition to download speeds of up to 80Mbps, FTTC also delivers upload speeds of up to 20Mbps3 — and could deliver even faster speeds in the future.
Openreach has also started to make fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology, where the fibre runs all the way to the home or business, commercially available on demand4 in certain areas where fibre broadband has been deployed, and plans to expand access in due course. FTTP-on-demand offers the top current download speed of 330Mbps3.
According to the regulator Ofcom, the current average UK residential broadband download speed is 14.7Mbps.
Fibre broadband at home means everyone in the family can do their own thing online, all at the same time, whether it’s downloading music in minutes or watching catch-up TV; streaming HD or 3D movies in the few minutes it takes to make popcorn; or posting photos and videos to social networking sites in seconds. Fibre improves the quality of online experiences and supports exciting new developments in internet services.
The benefits are also considerable for businesses, which can do much more in far less time. Firms can speed up file and data transfers, collaborate with colleagues and customers on conference or video calls or swap their hardware and expensive software licenses for files, processing power and software from cloud computing. Staff can work as effectively from home as they would in the office.
Unlike other companies, Openreach offers fibre broadband access to all service providers on an open, wholesale basis, underpinning a competitive market. For further information on Openreach’s fibre broadband programme visit www.superfast-openreach.co.uk
ENDS
3 These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
4 Openreach will levy an installation charge for FTTP on demand. It will be up to service providers to decide whether they pass that on to businesses or consumers wishing to use the product.
Due to the current network topography, and the economics of deployment, it is likely that some premises within selected exchange areas will not initially be able to access fibre-based broadband. Openreach is considering alternative solutions for these locations.
BT’s deployment plans are subject to an acceptable environment for investment.
Contact
For further information about this news release please contact the BT Regional press office on 0800 085 0660. All our news releases can be read at www.bt.com/newscentre
About Openreach
Openreach is responsible for the first mile of the UK access network - the copper wires and fibre connecting homes and businesses to their local telephone exchanges. Openreach leads the deployment of BT Group’s £2.5bn commercial roll-out of fibre, delivering fibre broadband services to communities across the UK as well as installing and maintaining the communications infrastructure that links homes, businesses, public and voluntary sector organisations to their Communications Providers' networks.
About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 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 and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.
For the year ended 31 March 2013, BT Group’s reported revenue was £18,103m with reported profit before taxation of £2,315m.
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
