FIRST COMMUNITIES TO BENEFIT FROM
MULTI-MILLION POUND
COVENTRY SOLIHULL & WARWICKSHIRE
SUPERFAST BROADBAND PROGRAMME ARE
ANNOUNCED
Alderminster, Fillongley, Henley-in-Arden, Kineton, Quinton, Long Marston,
Snitterfield and Welford-on-Avon are among the first areas to benefit
The first rural communities
to benefit from the £15.47 million superfast fibre broadband
partnership for Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire were announced today
by partners BT and Warwickshire County Council.
From Spring 2014, superfast fibre-based broadband will
start to become available for the first time in parts of Alderminster,
Fillongley, Henley-in-Arden, Kineton, Quinton, Long Marston,
Snitterfield and Welford-on-Avon. In addition, fibre will also ‘go live’
in areas of Stratford-upon-Avon and Wellesbourne not already enabled by
any commercial rollout.
Further updates about the rollout will be made in the coming weeks via council briefings and the CSW Broadband website: http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk where local people can also sign up to receive updates.
CSW Broadband is a partnership between Warwickshire
County Council and its five district and borough councils, with Coventry
City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and BT.
Since the partnership was announced last summer, engineers have
been busy surveying the network in order to ensure rollout of the new
technology is carried out in the most cost-effective and efficient
manner.
The project will build on BT’s on-going commercial
investment in fibre across the area. The company has already pledged to
bring faster fibre broadband to more than 1.7 million homes and
businesses across the counties of the West Midlands by the end of this
Spring – including nearly 400,000 premises in Coventry, Solihull and
Warwickshire - as part of its UK-wide £2.5 billion rollout.
The CSW Broadband partnership will ensure that
around 40,000 additional premises in the project area will have access
to superfast broadband with download speeds of up to 80 megabits per
second (Mbps) and uploads of up to 20Mbps*.
The combined commercial and partnership rollouts
will result in 91 per cent of the area’s homes and businesses being able
to access superfast broadband.
On completion
of the CSW Broadband partnership rollout, all premises within Coventry,
Solihull and Warwickshire will be able to access a minimum of 2Mbps.
The CSW Broadband programme is also actively seeking
more funding to extend the availability of superfast broadband further
across the remainder of the partnership area.
Councillor
Alan Cockburn, deputy leader of Warwickshire County Council, said:
“This is only the start of the rollout of a project that will take place
over the next two years. The provision of faster broadband will make a
real difference to the quality of people’s lives and to the
competitiveness of our businesses.
“Owing to essential planning and survey work this
first announcement has been a while in coming. There is a lot of work to
do to roll out the network over a relatively short period and people
will really see things happening quickly now.
“Additionally, the CSW Broadband team has been working to develop
information showing proposed coverage down to postcode level, and this
will be released very shortly.”
Approximately
250 new road-side cabinets will be installed to enable people to connect
to the new fibre optic network that is being laid.
Bill Murphy, managing director of next generation
access for BT Group, said: “This is a major engineering undertaking but
work on the rollout has been progressing extremely well.
“Today marks a very exciting step forward for these communities because
they’re a step closer to being able to access faster fibre technology.
“High-speed
broadband can benefit everyone. Whether you’re a small business wanting
to stay in touch with customers and suppliers, or parents with children
using the internet for homework and playing games, whatever you do
online, you can do it much better and faster with fibre broadband.”
When fibre has ‘gone live’ in an area, people
wanting to enjoy faster fibre broadband can place an order with an
internet service provider (ISP) of their choice. There’s a wide range of
ISPs to choose from as the network is open to all providers on an open,
wholesale basis, thereby ensuring competitive prices.
Ends
For more information please contact Leigh Hunt at the CSW Broadband project office on 01926 738339 or email: broadband@warwickshire.gov.uk
Or contact Emma Tennant at the BT regional press office on 0800 085 0660 or email: emma.tennant@bt.com
Notes to Editors:
*These
are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service
providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
BT is contributing £6.57 million towards the CSW
partnership rollout, whilst the partnership councils are contributing
£4.45m - £3m from Warwickshire and the balance coming from other local
authorities - with a further £4.45m coming from the Government’s
Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme.
The CSW Superfast Broadband Programme is in addition
to – and separate from Coventry City Council’s ‘Super Connected Cities’
Programme.
Superfast Britain is a Government
programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure
across the UK. Run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this
investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain
more competitive in the global race. The portfolio is comprised of
three elements:
• £780m to extend superfast broadband to 95 per cent of the UK by 2017
• £150m to provide high speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities
• £150m to improve quality and coverage of mobile phone and basic data network services
Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband
Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by
promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of
life.
For further information: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk
About CSW Broadband
CSW
Broadband is a partnership of eight Local Authorities (Coventry,
Solihull, Warwickshire and the Boroughs and Districts of North
Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford on
Avon).
The project office is hosted by Warwickshire County
Council and is based in Warwick. The project team can be contacted on
01926 738339 or broadband@warwickshire.gov.uk
About BT
BT is one
of the world’s leading providers of communications services and
solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. Its principal
activities include the provision of networked IT services globally;
local, national and international telecommunications services to its
customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and
internet products and services; and converged fixed/mobile products and
services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global
Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.
For the year ended 31 March 2013, BT Group’s reported revenue was £18,103m with reported profit before taxation of £2,315m.
British
Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group
plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.
BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. For
more information, visit www.btplc.com
About BDUK
Superfast
Britain is a UK Government programme of investment in broadband and
communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department of
Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow,
creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race.
The portfolio is comprised of three elements:
• £780m to extend superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017
• £150m to provide high speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities
• £150m to improve quality and coverage of mobile phone and basic data network services
Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband
Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by
promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of
life.
For further information: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk
CSW Broadband
Warwickshire County Council
Tel: 01926 738320
Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/CSWSuperfastBroadband
Twitter - twitter.com#!/cswbroadband
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