Timely world-wide web upgrade set to bring military families closer to loved ones overseas
CSW Broadband roll-out of faster fibre broadband helps to spread festive cheer in Temple Herdewyke and neighbouring Warwickshire villages
A timely present has been delivered to families and service personnel at a Warwickshire military base wanting to stay in touch with loved ones around the world.
Marlborough Barracks in Kineton is located in the latest area to benefit from the roll-out of high-speed fibre broadband by the CSW Broadband partnership, led by Warwickshire County Council and BT.
The arrival of faster fibre broadband follows months of careful planning by engineers from Openreach – BT’s local network business – who, because of the rural location, had to overcome a series of engineering challenges in order to complete the upgrade work.
Now the new fibre broadband cabinet that serves the base has been installed and switched on, army families and servicemen and women based there will be able to access download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second and uploads of up to 20Mbps*.
The faster fibre broadband will also provide a more reliable connection for families wanting to Skype their loved ones, as well as trainees at the camp wanting to work online.
Lt Col Mike Dempsey, Station Commander, said: “All initiatives to improve the welfare of soldiers and their families are good news, and I particularly welcome efforts made by CSW Broadband in this instance. This is an important development that will benefit the service families here enormously.”
Chris Wright, a local resident and ‘broadband champion’, said: “Historically our internet services were limited to speeds of just half a megabit. With the delivery of faster fibre broadband into our community comes the ability to connect to the world.
“Our village contains a large number of military families whose needs to communicate with their loved ones is, at times, paramount. Now my family and many others can look forward to instant unlimited access at speeds that humble what we used to have. My son has no more excuses for his homework, my wife can watch the entire Downton back catalogue and I can stream whatever I choose! Christmas has come early to Temple Herdewyke.”
Councillor Alan Cockburn, Deputy Leader of Warwickshire County Council, said: “This is fantastic news for the community of Temple Herdewyke. The CSW Broadband team have really pulled out all the stops to ensure that this cabinet was upgraded and that the service families and others living in the area can now benefit from the faster broadband speeds.”
Ian Binks, BT’s regional manager for Coventry, Warwickshire and the West Midlands, said: “Finding the right location for the new fibre cabinet proved a bit tricky and we had a number of other engineering challenges that needed to be overcome, but working together we’ve been able to finish the work in time for Christmas.
“The arrival of high-speed fibre broadband will also provide a boost for other villagers who use the internet – whether it’s for shopping online, doing homework, playing games or working from home.”
Chris Wright added: “Without the dedicated support of the CSW Broadband team and the Government grant this would not have been possible and therefore my thanks and praise go out to the CSW Broadband team for their superb service provided to me and many other champions and indeed our community.”
The fibre broadband cabinet in Banbury Road, Temple Herdewyke, is one of five in the area to go live in the run-up to Christmas. The new road-side cabinets are needed to connect homes and businesses onto the new fibre optic network. As a result of this upgrade work, more than 1,600 premises in the Temple Herdewyke, Kineton, Little Kineton, Lighthorne and Lighthorne Heath areas are now able to opt for an upgrade to faster fibre broadband.
Because the network is being installed by Openreach it is ‘open’, so residents and businesses wanting to upgrade have a choice of providers, with more than 140 fibre broadband companies now operating in the UK.
Anyone wanting to follow the progress of the CSW Broadband roll-out should log onto: www.cswbroadband.org.uk or look out for updates on Twitter and Facebook.
Note to Editors
* These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
About CSW Broadband - http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk
CSW Broadband is a partnership of eight Local Authorities (Coventry, Solihull, Warwickshire and the Boroughs and Districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford on Avon).
The project office is hosted by Warwickshire County Council and is based in Warwick. The project team can be contacted on 01926 738339 or broadband@warwickshire.gov.uk
The CSW Superfast Broadband Programme is in addition to, and separate from, Coventry City Council’s ‘Super Connected Cities’ Programme.
About 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
