Partnership approach brings ultrafast broadband to more homes and businesses in Cuckfield, West Sussex

Openreach’s Community Fibre Partnerships scheme to deliver the latest Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) technology in Cuckfield

A partnership between local residents and Openreach will make ultrafast broadband available to 11 homes, in Broxmead Lane, Cuckfield near Haywards Heath.

Openreach, Britain’s digital network business,will install new fibre optic cabling called Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) technology, which is capable of delivering speeds up to 330Mbps.

Ultrafast broadband speeds will be available for the first time for the residents in Broxmead Lane, from a wide range of broadband service providers. The co-funded deal, involving investment by local residents and Openreach, is expected to see the first residents get the ultrafast service in October this year.

One business which is set to benefit from having access to faster broadband speeds is photographer Natasha Merchant, she said: “I’m looking forward to using faster broadband speeds. Quicker internet speeds will enable to me to upload and transfer files faster. The photos I take are high resolution, so anything that helps to send big data files to my customers will ultimately help my business be more efficient.”

Steve Haines, managing director of next generation access for Openreach, said: “It is great to be able to work with proactive communities like the people of Broxmead Lane to find a fibre broadband solution. We are working on hundreds of similar community fibre partnership programmes across the UK, which are bringing faster internet access to areas not covered by any private or public funded fibre broadband rollout plans. Openreach is committed to making fibre broadband as widely available as possible.

“More than 95 per cent[1] of households and businesses in Mid Sussex already have access to superfast speeds and, nationally, UK superfast broadband coverage will rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017. More than 400 communities across the country have already signed up to Openreach’s co-funded Community Fibre Partnerships scheme with more than 200 already enjoying the benefits of superfast broadband.”

To find out how to help bring superfast broadband to your community visit www.communityfibre.openreach.co.uk

For more details on the roll-out of fibre broadband visit www.openreach.co.uk/whereandwhen