Staffordshire superfast broadband connects more than 50,000 people
MORE than 50,000 homes and businesses across Staffordshire have secured access to faster fibre broadband.
The installation work, conducted by Superfast Staffordshire – a partnership between Staffordshire County Council and BT, is now more than half-way complete.
Cllr Mark Winnington, Staffordshire County Council’s economy leader, said: “More than 50,000 properties can now connect to high-speed broadband thanks to the roll-out of our programme.
“It is making a real difference to communities across the county, whether it’s for learning, business, leisure or to access other services. Superfast Staffordshire is another demonstration of the public sector working with business for effective delivery and is connecting communities in both rural and urban areas.”
Bill Murphy, managing director of BT’s next generation access, said: “Superfast Staffordshire is a huge engineering project, and the roll-out is progressing extremely well. So far engineers have installed nearly 400 kilometres of fibre optic cable and more than 270 new fibre road-side cabinets.”
Once an area has ‘gone live’, local people will be able to get download speeds of up to 80 megabits (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.
It is an ‘opt in’ service, but because the Openreach network is ‘open’, residents and businesses wanting to upgrade have a choice of fibre broadband providers, with more than 140 companies now operating in the UK.
People are able to follow the progress of the roll-out via the Superfast Staffordshire website: www.superfaststaffordshire.co.uk and via Twitter @superfaststaffs.
