100,000 Nottinghamshire homes and business can access full fibre broadband
More than 100,000 homes and businesses across Nottinghamshire can now order some of the fastest, most reliable broadband in Europe thanks to a multi-million pound investment by Openreach. But there are concerns that thousands of residents and businesses could be missing out on reaping the benefits.
The company has spent more than £30 million[1] so far to build a new ultrafast, ultra-reliable ‘full fibre’ network, which is up to ten times faster than the average UK broadband connection and around five times more reliable than the old copper-based network it’s replacing.
But thousands of residents have yet to upgrade in places such as Arnold, Beeston, Gedling, Hucknall, Ruddington, Sherwood and West Bridgford – where on average only around 12 per cent of premises are using full fibre, lagging behind the UK average.
Kasam Hussain, Openreach’s Partnership Director for the Midlands, said: “Research shows that this new network will give businesses an edge as they fight back from the pandemic and give families and home-workers future-proof connectivity, no matter what life throws at us next.
“Following our earlier work with the county council’s Better Broadband for Nottinghamshire partnership, our investment across the county continues at pace, and we’re determined to deliver a great service which helps the county thrive and supports people to work from home easily, keep in touch with their loved ones and build connections and opportunities.
“Gigabit-capable broadband can have a huge impact on people’s lives and it’s great for the economy but upgrades aren’t automatic. People need to place an order with their chosen providers to get connected and we’ll do the rest. Our network offers the widest choice of providers such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen - which means people have lots of choice and can get a great deal.”
“Even if you already have a decent enough service it’s worth checking if you can upgrade, because full fibre is the future, and it provides the best broadband experience at great value for money. There’ll be no more worrying that your video call freezing, or your files are failing to upload when everyone’s at home competing for bandwidth at the same time.”
A report by the Centre for Economics & Business Research (Cebr) shows that connecting everyone in the East Midlands to ‘full fibre’ broadband would create a £3.5 billion boost to the local economy, by unlocking smarter ways of working, better public services and greater opportunities for the next-generation of home-grown businesses.
Nottinghamshire County Councillor Keith Girling, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Asset Management, said: “This is a vital milestone as being better connected is essential for the way we work, learn and communicate. We’re proud that Nottinghamshire is one of the best connected counties in the country as we know how vital it is for our economy.”
Openreach has announced plans to invest in full fibre broadband for exchange areas across Nottinghamshire. It’s part of the company’s plans to reach 25 million UK homes and businesses by 2026. This short video explains what full fibre technology is and you can find out more about Openreach Fibre First build programme here.
[1] Investment figure based on an average build cost of £300 per premises
