Connecting Cheshire maps out fibre broadband expansion plans
Connecting Cheshire has revealed a fibre broadband rollout map just seven months after the signing of a £28.5m deal between BT and four Cheshire councils to bring fibre broadband to 96 per cent of Cheshire.
The map shows the many, areas already able to access commercial fibre broadband, largely in urban areas, and those planned to be connected under the Connecting Cheshire programme, which will extend the network to over 80,000 premises in mainly outlying and rural communities, plus those areas still under evaluation.
The Connecting Cheshire broadband programme will be delivered by Openreach - BT’s local network business - building on BT’s commercial investment in the county already committed as part of its £2.5 billion overall commercial investment in UK fibre broadband.
A massive 875 miles of fibre-optic cable will be laid – more than the distance between Lands end and John O’Groats. This will be a significant engineering challenge testing BT’s engineers to the full as they work to upgrade the county’s infrastructure, both underground and up telegraph poles, in all weather and often at night, to minimise traffic disruption.
As a result of the programme, broadband speeds will increase significantly, 96% of Cheshire premises will have access to speeds of up to 80Mbps , whereas Cheshire’s current average downstream speed is 16Mbps (Ofcom UK Broadband Speeds Report; June 2013).
The final 4% of premises are under evaluation and the project is seeking additional funding or technological solutions to facilitate their upgrade to high speed broadband as soon as practicable, however these areas will see faster speeds as the project aims to deliver 2Mbps or more to all homes and businesses by the end of 2016 via enhancements to the existing copper network. This will be as a significant speed boost for our most remote homes and businesses as 12% currently receive less than 2Mbps.
BT’s network will be open to all communications providers on an equal wholesale basis and so Cheshire consumers and businesses will benefit from a highly-competitive market, in turn bringing greater choice and lower prices.
There are a range of factors which impact on the viability of the upgrades to fibre within the Connecting Cheshire programme; these include the number and density of premises, the deployment cost, the proximity to existing fibre infrastructure and whether eligible small or medium sized businesses would be served – which is a condition of the project’s European funding.
Connecting Cheshire expects to announce in early December which specific areas will be included in the first stage of its roll-out, with further phased announcements thereafter.
Homes and businesses in at least 20 telephone exchange areas will see upgrades as part of the first phase and be able to contact their internet service provider to order a switch to fibre broadband from the end of March 2014 onwards.
Councillor David Brown, Deputy Leader of Cheshire East Council, on behalf of the Connecting Cheshire Partnership said: “Superfast broadband will open the doors to countless business and social benefits, everything from making it easier for businesses to connect with customers to helping children with their homework.
“Deploying fibre broadband is vital to help local businesses to be competitive and ensure they remain here. It can also play an important role in attracting firms to Cheshire, thereby helping to create even more jobs for local people.”
Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Next Generation Access, said: “We’ve made great progress planning our network for Cheshire but, with a programme of this size, it’s not possible to upgrade every area at the same time and, sadly, not all exchange areas will become live on the same date. So please bear with us – we are going to be working as fast as we can to bring more fibre to more people over the next two years.”
More than 900 small and medium-sized businesses across Cheshire and Warrington are set to benefit from a £1.5m investment to help them gain from digital technology enabled by faster broadband.
High-speed fibre broadband will be rolled out to around 96 per cent of Cheshire homes and businesses in the next three years under a £28.5 million project between four Cheshire councils and BT.
The £20m Fund is delivered as part of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). The RCBF is jointly funded by Defra and Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and provides grants to communities to establish superfast broadband in hard-to-reach areas.
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