Introducing Flash the Fibre Fox – thanks to the Clarke family from Leicestershire

It’s official! The newest addition to the Superfast Leicestershire broadband team, formerly known as Fibre Fox, has a brand-new name.

Flash the Fibre Fox was chosen from the 38 suggestions submitted by members of the public on Twitter and by email in a fun competition.

The winning name – Flash the Fibre Fox – was chosen by the Superfast Leicestershire team. It was put forward by the Clarke family from Theddingworth, near Market Harborough.

Mum Rachel, dad Drew, Thomas (14) and Miles (5) use broadband, so were keen to take part in the competition. Drew uses it to work from home, the boys use it for games and keeping in touch with friends and Rachel uses it for streaming films and music along with the rest of the family.

The name Flash the Fibre Fox was chosen by Thomas and Miles.

Rachel said: “They researched words meaning fast which also began with an F. Being Leicester City supporters, they both love Filbert Fox, so they wanted another Fox with a name beginning with F. Flash was their favourite, so we went for that. The boys are really pleased to have won!”

The Clarke family live in a small rural community, one of many to benefit from the ongoing Superfast Leicestershire rollout of fibre broadband across the county. Superfast Leicestershire remains on course to make superfast broadband available to more than 74,000 premises across the county and city by the end of 2018.

The family moved to their current home in March 2016 and have had fibre broadband since that time. Said Rachel: “The benefits of having fibre broadband include the speed of the experience and the fact that the entire family are able to be online at the same time, doing things that are important or fun, without compromising the experience.”

Council leader, Nick Rushton, said: “It’s great that so many people got involved with the fun competition to name our new Superfast Leicestershire mascot, with 38 good suggestions coming in through Twitter or email.

“We’re hoping that Flash the Fibre Fox will be an easily-identifiable mascot for the Superfast Leicestershire programme, who will promote the advantages of fibre broadband and encourage people to find out how they can benefit.”

Superfast Leicestershire remains on course to make superfast broadband available to more than 74,000 premises across the county and city by the end of 2018.

Flash the Fibre Fox has joined the team to help spread the word about the benefits of fibre broadband. It’s important for people across Leicestershire and Leicester city to check to see if they can connect, as upgrades do not happen automatically.

A fibre broadband connection at home means everyone in the house can be online at the same time without losing speed or buffering – whether they’re gaming, catching up on their favourite programmes through streaming, downloading music or posting to social media.

For businesses, superfast broadband enables them to maximise growth and expand their customer base, with faster upload and download speeds, better connectivity and more flexible ways of working.

Work carried out as part of the Superfast Leicestershire programme is in addition to BT’s commercial rollout in the county that has already made fibre broadband available to around 300,000 properties.

All of the engineering work is being carried out by Openreach, who are responsible for Britain’s largest phone and broadband network, meaning people with access to the fibre network can choose from a range of internet providers.

For more information about Superfast Leicestershire visit www.superfastleicestershire.org.uk or look out for #SuperfastLeics on Twitter.