Superfast Worcestershire is three months ahead of schedule
Ambitious plans to roll-out superfast broadband across Worcestershire are three months ahead of schedule, partners Worcestershire County Council and BT announced today.
Less than six months after Superfast Worcestershire began laying the new infrastructure, more than 6,800 county premises are now within reach of the new fibre optic network – 1,400 more than originally expected at this stage.
As well as laying 120 kilometres of fibre optic cable underground, 38 new fibre broadband cabinets have been installed. These road-side cabinets are needed to connect local people and businesses onto the new network, enabling them to access download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second and uploads of up to 20Mbps*.
It’s an ‘opt in’ service, and because the network is being installed by Openreach, Worcestershire people wanting to upgrade can choose from a number of fibre broadband providers. This ensures competitive prices for people, with more than 140 fibre broadband companies now operating across the UK.
Simon Geraghty Deputy Leader of Worcestershire County Council said: "This is great news as it means more people will have the choice of signing up to broadband even sooner than expected. Faster broadband speeds mean better access online for residents and can ensure that businesses have the ability to keep up with the competition, develop their business and thrive in the County.
“The Council's Superfast Worcestershire Team along with BT and Openreach colleagues are working hard to ensure the target of at least 90 per cent of Worcestershire's residential and business premises are provided with access to a next generation broadband network by June 2016.”
Steve Henderson, BT’s regional director for broadband partnerships, said: “Superfast Worcestershire is a huge engineering programme, but the roll-out is progressing extremely well, and we’re working hard to bring the benefits of faster fibre broadband to as many communities as quickly as possible.”
Local people wanting updates on the fibre roll-out or information about fibre broadband providers can visit the Superfast Worcestershire website at:www.superfastworcestershire.com, visit the Facebook page and join the conversation on Twitter #SuperfastWorcs.
Deployment of Superfast Worcestershire continues at pace across the county with details of the next fibre broadband cabinets to ‘go live’ on the website's cabinet status page.
Note to Editors
* These are the top wholesale speeds available from BT’s local network business Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
About Superfast Worcestershire
Superfast Worcestershire is a partnership between Worcestershire County Council, BT and the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme. Worcestershire County Council is contributing up to £8.5 million, with an additional £8.9 million from BT and a further £3.35 million from the from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds through the Superfast Britain initiative (please see below).
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 per cent 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
