Superfast Telford achieves major milestone as demand for high-speed broadband doubles in just six months
Twice as many people are reaping the benefits of the Superfast Telford roll-out of fibre broadband compared with just six months ago, lead partners Telford & Wrekin Council and BT announced today.
The percentage of households and businesses choosing an upgrade has jumped from 10 per cent to more than 20 per cent since September – and the number is continuing to grow rapidly.
More than 3,000 premises across the borough are now able to access superfast fibre broadband as a result of Superfast Telford, which is part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme.
Areas of the borough to benefit recently include parts of Lightmoor, Ironbridge, Tibberton, Stirchley, Aqueduct and Lawley.
JoJo Chidlow, a working mum of four, upgraded her family to the new technology as soon as it became available at their home in Lightmoor earlier this year.
She said: “With four children who all want to be online at the same time, being able to have superfast fibre broadband has made a huge difference to us all. Our download speeds are more than 75 megabits per second (Mbps) which is 30 times faster than we had before, and the connection is so much more reliable now.
“We do so much over the internet. My two eldest sons love gaming, I enjoy watching movies on Netflix and my two youngest children like to watch their own programmes elsewhere. Since upgrading, we can download family movies with no delay rather than having to wait for hours and there’s no more ‘buffering’ when streaming films or gaming online. I was even able to Skype my mum when she was away on holiday in Mexico.”
Councillor Angela McClements, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Customer and Neighbourhood Services, said: “Making fibre broadband available to 3,000 households and businesses is a major achievement for the Superfast Telford programme, but we’re keen for even more local people to benefit. Our project teams are working hard to make it available to more parts of the borough, as quickly as possible. And in areas where it is already ‘live’, I would encourage people to take advantage of this fantastic technology. There’s lots of useful information on the Superfast Telford website.”
Ian Binks, BT’s regional manager for the West Midlands, said: “Every day we’re hearing how faster fibre broadband is changing people’s lives for the better. Whether it’s people wanting to run a business or work from home, or residents like the Chidlow family wanting to connect several devices to the internet at the same time for leisure or learning – everything is easier and quicker with superfast fibre broadband.”
It’s around 15 months since engineers from Openreach – the local network business, which is part of BT Group - started to connect the first households and businesses to the Superfast Telford network.
By the end of 2017, around 9,300 households and businesses will have access to fibre broadband, with 8,800 of them able to get ‘superfast’ download speeds of 24 megabits per second (Mbps) and above.
As the Openreach network is open to all communications providers, local people opting for an upgrade will be able to order fibre broadband with download speeds of up to 80Mbps and uploads of up to 20Mbps* from a wide range ofservice providers.
All the latest information on the programme can be found on the partnership’s website – www.superfast-telford.co.uk – including a map searchable by postcode where people can sign up to receive the latest updates.
Ends
Notes to editors
*These are the top wholesale speeds from Openreach. Speeds offered by service providers may vary.
Further information for the media is available from:
Russell Griffin, Public Relations Team Leader, Telford & Wrekin Council on 01952 382407, or email russell.griffin@telford.gov.uk
Or
Emma Tennant at the BT regional press office on 0800 085 0660 or email: emma.tennant@bt.comTwitter:@EmmaTennantBT
All BT news releases can be accessed at our web site: http://www.btplc.com/News
About Telford & Wrekin
Telford & Wrekin Council is a unitary authority with 170,300 residents. It is a mix of historic market towns, New Town Estates and rural villages. It has a purpose built town centre that is currently undergoing a £250m regeneration.
It is also the birthplace of the industrial revolution and home to the world’s first Iron Bridge in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.
We are a business winning and business supporting local authority and are proud that we represent the fastest growing town in the Midlands. Telford has excellent transport links, congestion-free roads and plenty of available land and office space. Talk to us on Twitter @TelfordWrekin and Facebook.
About Superfast Britain
Superfast Britain is a Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department for 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:
- £790m to extend superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017;
- £150m to provide high-speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities; and
- £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
About BT
BT’s purpose is to use the power of communications to make a better world. It is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 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, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed-mobile products and services. BT consists of six customer-facing lines of business: Consumer, EE, Business and Public Sector, Global Services, Wholesale and Ventures, and Openreach.
For the year ended 31 March 20161, BT Group’s reported revenue was £19,012m with reported profit before taxation of £2,907m.
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.
1The results for the period have been revised to reflect the outcome of the investigation into our Italian business. Detail of which is set out in our third quarter results announcement published on 27 January 2017. This financial information is unaudited.
For more information, visitwww.btplc.com.
About Openreach
Openreach is the UK’s leading digital infrastructure provider.
Its 32,000 employees are responsible for building and maintaining millions of miles of fibre and copper cables that connect every home and business in the UK to local telephone exchanges. Openreach operates and maintains this network to deliver a range of wholesale services for more than 560 retail providers, who in-turn provide telephony, broadband, TV and data services to more than 30 million consumer and business customers throughout the country.
Openreach is a highly regulated business, with more than 90 per cent of its revenues generated from services that are regulated by Ofcom. Any company can access its products under exactly the same prices, terms and conditions.
Over the last decade, Openreach has invested more than £10bn into its network and is currently building the UK’s largest fibre broadband footprint. This technology is available to more than 26 million homes and businesses, with tens of thousands more gaining access each week.
Openreach is a wholly owned and independently governed division of the BT Group. For the year ended 31 March 2016, it reported revenues of £5.1bn.
For more information, visitopenreach.co.uk
