High speed broadband rolled out to more Black Country users
MORE than 17,000 homes and business in the Black Country are set to benefit from faster broadband after the latest service upgrade by BT.
The telecoms firm said people served by the Beacon telephone exchange as well as those in Lye and Pelsall were the latest communities to receive the next generation broadband service delivered over copper lines.
The move has been welcomed by the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership.
Other West Midlands communities to ‘go live’ include: Pershore, Stourport and Wolverley in Worcestershire; Eccleshall and Tutbury in Staffordshire; Market Drayton in Shropshire; and Cheylesmore in Coventry.
BT said the upgrade would deliver download speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps) – more than double the fastest speed previously available.
The faster broadband is now available to more than 1.8m homes and businesses across the West Midlands.
By next spring around 89% of homes and businesses in the region will be served by an exchange which has been upgraded to deliver the higher speeds.
Paul Brown, Black Country LEP lead on business support and access to finance, said: “I welcome this latest development which makes faster broadband available to thousands more businesses and homes across the region. This kind of investment by BT is vital for the continued growth and prosperity of the Black Country.
“In a fast-changing increasingly competitive world, faster broadband is tremendously important for local businesses and for individuals wanting to develop their skills and education.”
John Dovey, BT’s West Midlands regional director, said: “Faster broadband is touching the Iives of everyone – from small businesses and homeworkers, to internet shoppers, students, families and online gaming enthusiasts – and transforming the way we do things, for the better. BT is committed to making the technology available to as many homes and businesses as possible, as quickly as possible.
“Around 88% of West Midlands homes and businesses now have access to faster broadband and within less than a year we expect this will have increased to about 89% but there is still much work to be done and we want to work with local authorities to find ways of getting to even the most challenging locations.”
The investment in the copper network is in addition to BT’s £2.5bn roll-out of fibre-based broadband, which will bring even faster speeds to around two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014. Fibre-based broadband is already available to more than 818,000 homes and businesses across the West Midlands, with more than 404,000 more earmarked for upgrades.
