Superfast Staffordshire achieves 60,000 premises milestone
MORE than 60,000 homes and businesses across the county are now able to access faster fibre broadband thanks to Superfast Staffordshire.
Alrewas (Lichfield), Dapple Heath (Lichfield), Glascote (Tamworth), Hednesford (Cannock Chase), Wheaton Aston (South Staffordshire), Barlaston (Stafford), Wetley Rocks (Staffordshire Moorlands) and Madeley (Newcastle) are among the latest communities to benefit from the multi-million pound roll-out of high-speed fibre broadband, which is part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme.
Staffordshire County Council’s economy leader, Mark Winnington, said: “We are continuing at pace with our Superfast Staffordshire programme roll-out and are now two-thirds of the way towards our target of about 90,000 properties.
“The 60,000 mark is another significant milestone as another wave of communities is now able to connect. We know this is making a real difference to thousands of people in Staffordshire – improving opportunities for learning, leisure, employment and access to services.
“For businesses it means the ability to operate from most places in the county, grow and boost the local economy. 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, BT’s managing director of next generation access, said: “Fibre broadband is providing a major boost for households and businesses across Staffordshire and the UK as a whole.
“Whilst today marks another major achievement, we recognise there is still much more to do. BT is committed to rolling out faster broadband as widely and quickly as possible. Working with the government, local authorities and local communities, we are determined to find solutions for even the most challenging areas.”
People can follow the progress of the roll-out via the Superfast Staffordshire website:www.superfaststaffordshire.co.uk and via Twitter @superfaststaffs and on Facebook.
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’s 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.
