03
November
2017
|
09:00
Europe/Amsterdam

Minister for Digital hails Cambridgeshire's superfast progress towards 99 per cent broadband coverage

Summary
Minister for Digital Matt Hancock today (3 Nov) hailed Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s rapid progress as a leading digital county, which is aiming to bring superfast broadband to 99% of homes and businesses by the end of 2020.

Minister for Digital Matt Hancock today (3 Nov) hailed Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s rapid progress as a leading digital county, which is aiming to bring superfast broadband to 99% of homes and businesses by the end of 2020.

More than 95% of premises across the county can now upgrade to superfast speeds of 24Mbps+ and take-up of fibre broadband by local households and businesses is among the highest in the country at almost 50%.

It means the Connecting Cambridgeshire programme, led by Cambridgeshire County Council, has already exceeded the Government’s national target of reaching 95% superfast broadband coverage by the end of 2017, and is aiming for over 99% superfast coverage by the end of 2020, as part of an ambitious digital connectivity blueprint.

Working with BT Group and Openreach, the superfast rollout has already reached 125,000 premises across the county that would not have got it otherwise. Thousands more premises are due to be covered from 2017 to 2019, and planning is underway to fill remaining gaps using a range of technologies.

Minister for Digital, Matt Hancock, said: “It's great news that Connecting Cambridgeshire has exceeded 95 per cent coverage and I’m delighted to hear of the programme’s ambitions to extend the rollout and reach everyone who wants high speed broadband.

“We know there’s still more to do but this government is committed to ensure that 100 per cent of the UK can get affordable, fast and reliable broadband by 2020."

The Minister was speaking at a high profile ‘Connected Futures Conference’ hosted by Connecting Cambridgeshire to mark progress of the high-speed broadband rollout and discuss future digital connectivity options, including trialling full fibre networks and 5G mobile.

Held at the cutting-edge Bradfield Centre on Cambridge’s Science Park, the event brought council leaders, telecoms providers, and tech’ experts, together with broadband champions and businesspeople, to highlight the importance of digital connectivity and ambitions for the area.

Cambridgeshire County Council Leader, Councillor Steve Count, said:

“Digital technology underpins almost every aspect of modern living across work, travel, leisure and health; and fast, reliable Internet access is now widely viewed as the ‘4th utility’.

“I am proud that Cambridgeshire has maintained its position as a leading digital county by exceeding the national target of 95% superfast coverage several months early, which is testament to our strong working partnership with BT and Openreach.

“We know there is more work to do to fill the remaining gaps and the high take-up of fibre broadband means we can now extend the rollout at no extra cost to the County Council with money that the County has secured from BT and has returned to the programme for reinvestment.

“Connecting Cambridgeshire continues to have high aspirations and is also bidding for further funding to improve digital connectivity so that our rural businesses can grow and compete, wherever they are based.”

The Connecting Cambridgeshire programme is working with a range of telecoms providers to bring superfast broadband to as many premises as possible that are not included in the private sector’s commercial roll-out. These include BT, Virgin Media, business and community providers.

Openreach engineers and contractors have laid over 1200km of fibre optic cable, installed more than 700 fibre broadband structures, cut back scores of overhanging trees and overcome technical challenges, such as crossing the A14 and railway lines.

Most premises have been connected to the fibre network via roadside cabinets (FTTC), while other technologies, such as Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and G.fast are offering ultrafast speeds of 100Mbps+.

Steve Haines, Openreach’s managing director of next generation access, said:

"Our project teams have been working very hard to get Connecting Cambridgeshire to the key milestone of 95% superfast broadband coverage as quickly as possible. The fact we have now surpassed this target demonstrates the strength of the partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council, and we’ll continue working well together to deliver the next stages of the rollout to reach even more properties.

“Fibre broadband offers tremendous opportunities. It enables a household to benefit from high broadband speeds when they are using several different devices at the same time, so, for example, children can play online games or do their homework online whilst parents watch catch-up television, do online shopping or upload photos.

“It breaks down the barriers to doing business in the digital world, helping small businesses to find new markets, sell new products, try new ways of working and compete on an equal footing with larger businesses. Next generation broadband is no longer a nice to have – it is a must have.”

The Openreach fibre network is open to all broadband service providers on an equivalent basis, which means households and businesses can upgrade to a fibre broadband package of their choice.

  • Use the postcode checker at www.ConnectingCambridgeshire.co.uk to check current or planned superfast broadband coverage in your postcode area, and find out how to upgrade.

Ends

Notes for Editors

The 95% superfast percentage figure is the total coverage when the Connecting Cambridgeshire programme is combined with existing commercial provision, using Independent data from Thinkbroadband.com

Connecting Cambridgeshire has a range of case studies available from around the county to illustrate the benefits of getting superfast broadband. We also have some enthusiastic broadband champions who can talk about the impact of fibre broadband for home and work. Short video clips are also available.

About us

Openreach is Britain’s digital network business. That means we connect homes, mobile phone masts, schools, shops, banks, hospitals, libraries, broadcasters, governments and businesses – large and small – to the world. It’s our mission to build the best possible network with the highest quality service, and make sure that everyone in Britain can be connected.

Our 30,400 people work on behalf of more than 580 communications providers like Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and BT. Our fibre broadband network is the biggest in the UK, covering more than 26.8 million premises. And our technology is the basis of Britain’s thriving digital economy, which is the largest of the G20 countries.

We’re working hard to give people the broadband speeds they need at work and at home. Over the last decade, we’ve invested more than £11bn into our network. And we now manage more than 158 million kilometres of cable stretching from Scotland to Cornwall, and from Wales to the east coast. But we’re not stopping there – we’re making superfast broadband speeds available to thousands more homes and businesses every week.

We’re owned by BT Group and independently governed. Our business is highly regulated, and more than 90 per cent of our revenue comes from services that are regulated by Ofcom. Any company can access our products under the same prices, terms and conditions.

In the year ending 31 March 2017, we reported revenues of £5.1bn.

To find out more about us and what we do, go to openreach.co.uk.