Rural broadband investments to boost connectivity ‘to match any UK city’
Infrastructure investments will soon result in south Shropshire having broadband coverage “comparable to the service available in any UK city”, it has been claimed.
Rural Broadband has a three-year plan to extend its gigabit-capable reach to more than 50,000 rural properties within Shropshire, with at least 15,000 connected. This is a big jump from its ambitions a year ago when it was targeting 5,000 connected customers.
Rural Broadband Solutions is expanding its network in the county, investing in its existing Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network to treble speeds and create a new Fibre To The Premise (FTTP) offer via its Dark Fibre Network.
The company’s subsidiary Secure Web Services has recently completed the first phase of its 100Gbps Dark Fibre network around Shropshire, which takes in Shrewsbury, Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Bishops Castle, Pontesbury and Minsterley.
Chris New, chief strategist and technical officer at Rural Broadband Solutions, said: “Our goal is to support rural communities, both in Shropshire and in Wales, to access broadband services equivalent to those in major cities and towns by removing the digital divide through the implementation of future-proof, gigabit-capable infrastructure.”
The company said its investment in both Dark Fibre and the FWA network is part of its plans to link local communities to the upgraded network and deliver a broadband service via fibre to each premises.
