Superfast Surrey fibre broadband partnership more than 75 per cent complete
The Villages of Tadworth and Walton on the Hill celebrate with high-speed fibre broadband upgrade
Superfast Surrey, a partnership between Surrey County Council and BT, today announced that it has successfully completed more than three quarters of its fibre broadband roll-out programme across the county. Thanks to the Superfast Surrey project, cabinets serving more than 68,000 homes and businesses across the county have been connected to the high-speed technology.
In the latest phase of the roll-out Superfast Surrey also announced the arrival of the first green cabinets that are bringing fibre broadband access to more than 1,200 homes and businesses in the villages of Tadworth and Walton on the Hill. These cabinets are now live and customers who wish to take up the new fibre service can contact the Internet Service Provider of their choice to see if they can place an order. More homes and businesses in the community are also set to benefit, as fibre broadband continues to become available across the area over the next few weeks, with download speeds of up to 80Mbps available. ** Superfast Surrey aims to reach 84,000 premises which fall outside the private sector’s commercial plans including those of BT which has already made the technology available to more than 370,000 Surrey homes and businesses.
In order to deliver the roll-out the Superfast Surrey project will:
- Deploy around 391,800 metres of fibre cable - this is greater than the distance from Banstead to Blackpool!
- Upgrade more than 30 rural telephone exchanges across the county to fibre broadband which otherwise would not be covered by commercial plans.
- Install more than 620 green street-side cabinets, with more than 490 deployed to date.
Peter Martin, Surrey County Council’s Deputy Leader, said: “The benefits are considerable economically and socially with Surrey’s economy being boosted by an estimated £30 million annually and homes getting fast, reliable internet access. Reaching the latest milestone means that tens of thousands more Surrey businesses and residents can enjoy the benefits in a way they would not have been able to otherwise and now we'll press ahead with the rest of the project to reach areas not covered commercially.”
Bill Murphy, BT Group’s managing director of next generation access, said: “Today’s announcement is another important milestone for a partnership which is making real progress. Working with our partners, we are able to bring this popular technology to locations where the economics and engineering challenges are that much greater. High-speed fibre broadband is increasingly important if local households and businesses are to make the most of the huge range of opportunities offered by the internet, whether they are seeking to start a new business, find new customers, undertake on-line training or simply wish to browse for entertainment or leisure purposes.”
Clive Elcome, Chairman, Tadworth and Walton Residents’ Association, said: “This is great news for both of our local communities. Residents will look forward to a faster internet service and businesses will be able to take advantage of the fibre speeds to gain a competitive edge.”
Engineers for Openreach, BT’s local network business, are building the new fibre broadband infrastructure. Fibre to the Cabinet will be the main technology deployed. This can deliver wholesale downstream speeds of up to **80Mbps, and upstream speeds of up to 20Mbps. Fibre to the Premises technology – delivering ultra-fast wholesale speeds of up to 330Mbps – will also be deployed in certain areas.
The technology will boost the competitiveness of local businesses, helping them to find new customers and operate more efficiently, whilst opening up a host of new learning and development opportunities for households.
People using fibre broadband are able to use multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time and send and receive large amounts of data much more quickly and efficiently. New fibre services are set to transform the way households use the internet, from the simple sharing of pictures and video and on-line training and research to enjoying the growing boom in entertainment services available on-line.
For local businesses, the fibre network will underpin the introduction of many new services and applications. Big business applications driven by new ‘cloud’ services will be within the reach of enterprises of all sizes. Computer back up, storage and processing will be faster, and the use of high-quality videoconferencing will become viable.
Ends
Notes to editors:
**80Mbps and 330Mbps are wholesale speeds. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may use different speeds in their advertising. Individual line speeds will depend on network infrastructure and the service chosen by the ISP.
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To find out more about the programme and access the post code checker visit www.superfastsurrey.org.uk
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 Superfast Surrey
Superfast Surrey is a pioneering two year programme that aims to give consistent reliable broadband access to communities outside of the commercially served areas within the county.
Funded by the Surrey County Council, BT and BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK), and managed by a joint Programme team, Superfast Surrey is building a brand new fibre broadband network; it is a ‘Big Build’ that promises big wins.
Fibre broadband will change the way we use the internet, opening up new opportunities for businesses, communities and individuals. It will broaden horizons for everyone, unlocking the full potential of the internet so we can all achieve more.
Whether you’re looking to work from home, get access for your business or get reliable consistent access to the internet to ensure you can access the wide range services on online; superfast broadband could be for you.
www.superfastsurrey.org.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: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk
