Take-up of fibre broadband in Leicestershire doubles in just 12 months

The number of people signing up for high-speed fibre broadband in Leicestershire has more than doubled in the last 12 months.

Latest BT figures show that more than 25 per cent of homes and businesses in the Superfast Leicestershire area have already signed up to a fibre broadband package. This compares to around 10 per cent just 12 months ago

The multi-million pound partnership between Leicestershire County Council and BT has already made the new technology available to more than 63,000 homes and businesses across the county – and the number is continuing to grow.

Councillor Blake Pain, cabinet member for rural broadband, said: “It is great to see residents and businesses in connected areas taking advantage of the new speeds available and I hope communities continue to benefit from the rollout.”

Superfast Leicestershire remains on course to make superfast broadband available to more than 72,000 premises in Leicestershire by the end of 2018.

Steve Henderson, BT’s regional director for next generation access, said: “We are delighted the rollout in Leicestershire is proving to be so popular. The Superfast Leicestershire team are doing a great job of making more and more people aware of the benefits of fibre broadband. With download speeds of up to 80Mbps widely available, it really does have the ability to transform the way people and businesses use the internet.”

Some of the most recent areas to benefit from the fibre broadband rollout include parts of Birstall, Earl Shilton, Hinckley and Melton Mowbray.

The initial contract is due to finish shortly but an additional 10,000 premises are set to benefit thanks to a second contract. This includes homes and businesses in Braunstone Town, Burton-on-the-Wolds, Ullesthorpe, Market Bosworth, Kegworth, Wigston and Eastwell.

By 2018, it's expected more than 410,000 homes and businesses across Leicestershire will have access to fibre broadband thanks to the Superfast Leicestershire programme and commercial providers including BT.

Fibre broadband helps make everything happen online much faster than a standard broadband connection. The technology offers download speeds up to 80Mbps.

At 50Mbps, a music album will take roughly 16 seconds to download, compared to more than three minutes on a 4Mbps connection. A high-quality film will take around four minutes to download on a 50Mbps fibre connection, compared to 50 minutes on a standard 4Mbps connection.

Funding for the Superfast Leicestershire partnership has been provided by a wide-range of organisations including the county council, other local authorities, BT, the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK programme, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership as part of its Local Growth Fund.

All of the engineering work is being carried out by Openreach, BT’s local network business. Residents and businesses with access to fibre broadband can choose from a wide range of internet service providers and benefit from competitive pricing and products.

For more information about Superfast Leicestershire visit www.superfastleicestershire.org.uk or look out for #SuperfastLeics on Twitter