The Connecting Shropshire project will build on BT’s commercial investment so that 93 per cent of premises across the Shropshire council area, more than 130,000 premises, should have access to broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps by the end of Spring 2016. As a result of the contract, all premises covered by the project will receive a minimum of 2Mbps.
During the course of the rollout BT may use Connecting Shropshire as a test bed for developing fibre innovations and other broadband technologies designed to boost speeds even further.
Shropshire is one of England’s most rural and sparsely populated counties , according to Ofcom, the county’s average downstream speed is currently 8.2Mbps whilst 17.1 per cent of premises receive less than 2Mbps.
BT has been chosen following an extensive and thorough selection process. The company is contributing £8.6m towards the deployment in “non-commercial” areas whilst Shropshire Council is contributing £8.2m, with £7.84m coming from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds.
George Candler, commissioning director for Shropshire Council, said: “We have been working hard, through our Connecting Shropshire project, to drive forward improvements to broadband provision for residents and businesses, so we are delighted to have reached this point. We look forward to working closely with BT over the coming years to ensure people start seeing the benefits of faster broadband even in the remote, rural parts of our county.”
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: “This is the best news I’ve had this week. Superfast broadband will absolutely transform the whole county for generations to come. It will give thousands of people, especially those trying to grow their businesses, access to the same high quality broadband urban areas have been enjoying for years.
“Defra’s £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund, combined with the Government’s £530m investment, demonstrates our absolute commitment to bringing superfast broadband to remote areas.”
Nick Chavasse MBE, Shropshire Business Board champion for broadband, said: “Reliable and fast broadband connection is fundamental for business growth. I am delighted that Shropshire Council has embraced this project and is fully committed to driving it through as soon as possible. Fast broadband connectivity will help our businesses to prosper and in turn help to increase employment across the county. Poor broadband is a barrier to growth and the plan to roll out fast broadband to the business community, in particular, is crucial to the success of our economic growth strategy. We will continue to work with and offer our full support to this ambitious partnership programme.”
Communications Minister Ed Vaizey, commented: “Shropshire is one of the most rural counties in England, but access to fast broadband speeds is just as important here as it is in our major cities. This project will deliver all the benefits of superfast broadband to Shropshire homes and business, providing a tremendous boost to the local economy.”
Bill Murphy, managing director NGA for BT, added: “This is fantastic news for the people of Shropshire. As communications technologies evolve it is really important that communities across the county are able to evolve with them, which is fitting since Charles Darwin is surely Shropshire’s most famous son.
Fibre broadband will bring Shropshire’s predominantly rural economy into the digital fast lane – revitalising small towns, villages and hamlets by making it possible to start and run a connected business from these locations and in the long-term, ensuring local people don’t suffer from a digital divide.”
Engineers for Openreach, BT’s local network business, will build the new fibre infrastructure. Fibre to the Cabinet will be the main technology deployed. This delivers wholesale downstream speeds of up to 80Mbps and upstream speeds of up to 20Mbps. Fibre to the Premises technology – delivering ultra-fast wholesale speeds of up to 330Mbps – will also be deployed in certain areas.
Superfast broadband benefits include users being able to use multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time and sending and receiving large amounts of data much more quickly and efficiently. New fibre services are set to transform the way consumers use the internet, from the simple sharing of pictures and video to enjoying the growing boom in entertainment services available on-line.
The project team will be working closely with parish and town councils to ensure that local communities are able to make the most of improved broadband speeds and the new and exciting opportunities this project brings to Shropshire.
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