Broadband booster for Cheshire
AROUND 10,000 more homes and businesses in Cheshire will be able to access superfast fibre broadband in the coming years, as a result of a £6.5m extension to the Connecting Cheshire scheme.
Telecoms group BT has won a contract for a second phase of the project, which is part-funded backed by the four local authorities in Cheshire and the government’s Rural Community Broadband Fund
Work will start on the planning of the additional network in autumn 2015.
Cllr David Brown, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council said: “I am delighted we are able to extend the coverage of the Connecting Cheshire project to reach even more premises, particularly in our rural areas, where we know so many people are struggling with slow and unreliable broadband speeds.
“This is great news for small businesses, students and people of all ages who need and rely on excellent-quality broadband for so many of their modern-day needs.”
Connecting Cheshire project director Julian Cobley added: “The response to our current roll-out has been tremendous, with ever more homes and businesses taking the opportunity to upgrade to faster broadband. So to be able to extend this opportunity to 10,000 additional premises is fantastic news.”
Bill Murphy, managing director of Next Generation Access for BT, which is contributing £1.7m towards the new programme, said: “BT has always said there is more to do in Cheshire truly to encourage businesses and residents to create the connected communities they want and deserve. So we are delighted to be given the chance to give a further 10,000 Cheshire homes and businesses the opportunity to invent a new, more prosperous future.”
More than 48,000 premises have already been passed out of a total of 80,000 covered by the first phase of the Connecting Cheshire programme, which will finish at the end of 2015.
And, in part of this second phase, more than £600,000 from the Rural Community Broadband Fund will be targeted at especially difficult places to reach in Cheshire.
Connecting Cheshire has just finished a consultation to pinpoint the areas to be included in this part of the programme. Further announcements about the areas with additional coverage will be made during 2015, once the network planning and design phase has been completed by BT.
