Tendring council leader explores inner workings of super-fast broadband
Hundreds more local homes and businesses get access to high-speed fibre optic technology
BT today demonstrated the technology behind its roll out of high-speed fibre broadband in the Kirby-Le-Soken, Kirby Cross and Great Holland area to Tendring District Council Leader, Peter Halliday.
The Councillor visited one of BT’s three new super-fast street cabinets, which will allow hundreds more local homes and businesses to get broadband speeds many times faster than those previously available. The cabinets were not originally in BT’s plans for the Frinton exchange area.
After successful talks with Tendring District Council (TDC), BT’s local network business, Openreach, looked again at its planned roll-out and, because of the layout of the network, was able in this particular case to install additional cabinets.
Councillor Halliday urged local people to reap the benefits of the company’s major investment in high-speed fibre broadband in the Tendring area.
More than 9,000 homes and businesses on the Frinton-on-Sea exchange are able to benefit from BT’s £2.5 billion fibre broadband roll-out programme.
The new network is available on an open, wholesale basis to all companies offering broadband services.
Peter Halliday, visiting one of the new green cabinets in The Street, Kirby-Le-Soken, said: “The addition of these three new cabinets is proof that in partnership with BT, the support of the local community can really influence investment decisions.
“Superfast broadband is vital to our communities. It will ensure that we continue to be competitive and are not left behind in the digital revolution. We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that all residents have access to the best quality services possible.”
Research carried out for BT by Regeneris Consulting suggests that in the next 15 years super-fast broadband could give the economy of a typical city a £296 million boost, create around 430 new jobs and 320 new start-up businesses, whilst for a typical town the figures are expected to be £143 million, 225 new jobs and 140 business start-ups1.
Annette Thorpe, BT’s regional partnership manager for the East of England, said: “We’re very pleased that Peter Halliday has been able to come and explore the inner workings of our roll-out of fibre broadband. Local people may have noticed our green street cabinets being installed around the area. This everyday street furniture is where the magic happens.
“Fibre broadband opens up a whole new world to internet users, as more than a million UK households and businesses have already discovered.”
BT’s fibre footprint currently passes more than 15 million UK homes and businesses. It is expanding all the time and is now due to pass two-thirds of UK premises – around 19 million premises – by the end of Spring 2014, at least 18 months ahead of the original timetable. 2
Openreach, BT’s local network business, is primarily deploying fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology, where the fibre runs from the exchange to a local roadside cabinet. FTTC offers download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps3 and could deliver even faster speeds in the future.
At home, fibre broadband enables a family to simultaneously download a movie, watch a TV replay service, surf the internet and play games online all at the same time. A whole album can be downloaded in less than 30 seconds and a feature length HD movie in less than 10 minutes, whilst high-resolution photos can be uploaded to Facebook in seconds.
For further information on Openreach’s fibre broadband programme visit www.superfast-openreach.co.uk
ENDS
Notes to editors
Locations of the three cabinets – The Street, Kirby-Le-Soken, Pork Lane, Great Holland and junction of Frinton Road and Halstead Road, Kirby Cross
1 Research taken from Social Study 2012 – The Economic Impact of BT across the UK by Regeneris Consulting – see www.btsocialstudy.co.uk for more information.
2 BT’s deployment plans are subject to an acceptable environment for investment.
3 These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
4 Openreach will levy an installation charge for FTTP on demand. It will be up to service providers to decide whether they pass that on to businesses or consumers wishing to use the product.
Due to the current network topography, and the economics of deployment, it is likely that some premises within selected exchange areas will not initially be able to access fibre-based broadband. Openreach is considering alternative solutions for these locations.
