Openreach wins technology award from Essex County Council

OPENREACH WINS TECHNOLOGY AWARD FROM ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

Openreach has been announced as a winner at the second Essex County Council (ECC) supplier recognition awards for its work on the multi million pound Superfast Essex programme.

The awards were introduced last year by ECC to recognise and celebrate their top suppliers and the excellent work and services they supply.

Openreach, the business responsible for Britain’s largest phone and broadband network, was recognised in the Best Use of Digital Technology category. It has a contract with ECC to deliver superfast broadband to the county’s more challenging areas not included in the private sector’s commercial roll-out of the high-speed technology.

A number of innovations have been introduced by Openreach to support the Superfast Essex team. One significant step forward was to provide data for the interactive maps at a property level, allowing the Superfast Essex website to display detailed roll-out information to residents, reducing the number of enquiries being received by the team and contact centre.

95,000 homes and businesses are now able to get superfast broadband speeds of 30Mbs or above as a result of the Superfast Essex programme, which continues to deliver upgrades at a rate of 2,000 properties a month.

Essex County Councillor Gagan Mohindra, Deputy Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Skills, Infrastructure and the Digital Economy, who presented the award to Openreach, said: “I’m very pleased to be presenting this award to Openreach for its ongoing achievement in extending superfast broadband coverage across the county. The recognition is thoroughly deserved and testament to the great partnership which has developed with Superfast Essex and Openreach.”

Rowena D’Rosario, programme manager for Openreach, said: “It is very rewarding to be recognised for the hard work we have been doing right across Essex. This is testament to the tremendous efforts of our people, in partnership with Essex County Council on this programme.

“Increasingly, fibre has become the ‘must have’ technology for families and businesses, which is why we’re working hard to make it available to as many people as possible, even in the most remote parts of Essex.”