Sunday October 6 2024
Swindon & Wiltshire News
Five hundred more rural businesses in Wiltshire now have access to superfast fibre broadband as a multi-million pound public and private sector partnership continues its roll-out.
Fibre broadband is now available in Kington Langley, Bradenstoke, Purton, and Broad Hinton. Further areas of Royal Wootton Bassett have also gone live with fibre following the town’s initial switch-on in December last year.
This means more than including 500 businesses and 5,000 residential properties now have access to the service as a result of the partnership.
More than 10,000 homes and businesses in Wiltshire will be able to connect to fibre broadband by end of June 2014.
This work is part of a multi-million pound partnership between Wiltshire Council, South Gloucestershire Council and BT with additional funding from the UK Government’s Superfast Britain programme and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Building on the roll-out of commercial fibre broadband by the private sector, the partnership aims to make superfast speeds of 24Mbps and above available to 91 per cent of premises in Wiltshire by the end of March 2016 while laying nearly 1,500 kilometres of fibre cabling and installing more than 300 new street cabinets to make it possible.
People also now have the opportunity to check the progress of superfast broadband being available in their community through a postcode checker on the Wiltshire Online website. They can simply enter their postcode into the checker and they will be given an update.
Wiltshire council cabinet member with responsibility for broadband, John Thomson, said: “This project continues to gather pace and I am really pleased with its progress.
“This roll-out will continue over the coming months and I look forward to more and more homes and businesses getting access to this vital service which I’m sure will make a big difference.”
Bill Murphy, managing director of next generation access for BT, said: “Today’s announcement is an important step forward for a multi-million pound partnership, which will help transform broadband communications in Wiltshire.
“This exciting technology will provide a major boost to the local area, helping businesses seeking to attract new customers and become more competitive or people using the internet for educational and leisure purposes.
“Whatever you do online you can do it faster with fibre broadband.”
