Superfast Leicestershire reaches 10,000 homes and businesses
- 37 new locations also announced on the Superfast Leicestershire website
More than 10,000 homes and businesses now have access to fibre broadband, thanks to the county council's £18.6 million Superfast Leicestershire project.
Leicestershire County Council and BT’s project has installed superfast broadband in parts of Syston, Barkby, East Goscote, Loughborough, Cossington, Foxton, Kibworth and Market Harborough since work started in July.
Today, it announced the next 37 to benefit, once detailed planning and survey work is completed. They include Stoney Stanton, Barkby, Bringhurst, Barlestone, parts of Market Bosworth, most of Bottesford and Worthington. A full list of areas can be found atwww.superfastleicestershire.org.uk
Pam Posnett, the county council’s cabinet member for broadband, said: “Reaching 10,000 homes and businesses is a major milestone. Superfast broadband makes a real difference to the strength of our communities and local economy and I look forward to hitting our eventual target of 62,000.”
Steve Henderson, BT’s regional director of next generation access, said: “Everyone involved with Superfast Leicestershire is delighted to have played a role in making fibre broadband available to more than 10,000 homes and businesses already. There’s more to come as well with the next phase of the project well under way and more communities being connected in the coming months.”
So far, BT has laid more than 120 kilometres of fibre cables and installed more than 50 new roadside fibre broadband cabinets. The first cabinet installed by the project was able to accept customer orders in July.
For more information about the Superfast Leicestershire project, visitwww.superfastleicestershire.org.uk
Representatives from BT and Leicestershire County Council continue to update communities about the fibre rollout. The sessions also provide local residents with an opportunity to ask the project team questions.
The £18.6m Superfast Leicestershire project is being delivered by Openreach, BT’s local network business, and will eventually bring fibre broadband to more than 62,000 homes and businesses in the county.
BT’s high-speed network is available on an open, wholesale basis to all communication providers, therefore offering Leicestershire households and businesses the benefit of real choice from a highly competitive market.
It will build on the existing fibre networks already provided by commercial operators to enable 96 per cent of all Leicestershire homes and businesses to access fibre broadband.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
Superfast Leicestershire is a project that seeks to extend high-speed fibre broadband coverage beyond the existing commercial fibre broadband rollout of companies such as Openreach (a BT Group company) and Virgin Media to 96% of premises. We anticipate that 62,000 premises will be able to access fibre broadband.
The county council is investing £4.0m in this project. £1.1m has been allocated by the district and borough councils, with an additional £3.4m coming from the Government and £1.2m from the European Union. BT is also contributing £9.1m towards the overall cost of the Superfast Leicestershire project.
Many homes and businesses in the county may already have access to broadband. Superfast Leicestershire concentrates on the areas the commercial rollout is not able to reach. In addition to the commitment to extend superfast broadband coverage, Superfast Leicestershire aims to ensure all premises have access to at least 2Mbps.
The county council is keen to ensure that everyone within Leicestershire can benefit from this project as it helps to grow the economy over the coming years. The county council anticipates that this investment in superfast broadband could generate £92m of economic growth by 2021, and will work with local communities as well as help small businesses to adopt technologies and grow.
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 more information: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk
ERDF
The Superfast Leicestershire project is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government is 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 http://www.gov.uk/browse/business/funding-debt/european-regional-development-funding
