Winds of change - multi-million pound roll-out of superfast broadband reaches out to every corner of Warwickshire

The next phase of the multi-million pound CSW Broadband roll-out will have a positive impact on communities the length and breadth of the county, lead partners Warwickshire County Council and BT Group announced today.

It will make high-speed fibre broadband available to more of Warwickshire’s smallest, oldest communities, including those in some key agricultural areas.

They include Chesterton, near Warwick, famous for its landmark Grade I listed windmill, Wibtoft, near Rugby, said by historians to have links with the Roman times, and Ansley Common, which is listed in the Domesday Book and is believed to have links with Lady Godiva.

Areas of Ashorne Hill, Fulready, Goldicote, Grendon, Little Wolford and Ufton will also get access to the technology for the first time. This phase of the roll-out will also enable additional households and businesses in Berkswell to upgrade.

Engineers from Openreach - the business responsible for Britain’s largest phone and broadband network – will begin the upgrades in the next few months, and the first households and businesses will start to go ‘live’ in the Autumn.

Local households and businesses can follow the progress of the CSW Broadband roll-out and get updates via the project website and online map.

It also includes information about the areas to benefit from the £28 million Contract 3 expansion of CSW Broadband with BT Group, announced last Autumn. The roll-out is part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme.

Councillor Kam Kaur, Holder for Customer and Transformation for lead partner, Warwickshire County Council, said: “Once again the CSW Broadband project is reaching out to some of our most rural areas. Even a couple of years ago these villages could only dream of getting fibre broadband, and now it is to become a reality. The provision of 21^st Century communications to these very rural villages will enable people not only to shop online, use banking services and education resources that so many people take for granted nowadays. They will also be able to access a wide range of public services without the need for time-consuming and expensive car journeys – and, of course, to keep in touch with loved ones across the globe.”

Steve Haines, Managing Director of Next Generation Access for Openreach, said: “CSW Broadband is a major engineering programme which has already successfully overcome a range of technical and geographical challenges and is continuing to spread its wings to more of the most remote areas. Many of the homes and businesses in this next phase are served by exchange only (EO) lines which are connected directly to the telephone exchange rather than via a green roadside cabinet. In order to connect EO lines, additional roadside cabinets have to be installed and cables diverted to enable more of the county’s most remote communities to access this important technology.

“The demand for high speed broadband is increasing all the time with the internet touching virtually every aspect of our lives. Statistics show that with the growth in streaming and downloading video, fuelled by services like Netflix, YouTube and Amazon, home broadband data usage has grown at a rate of 36 per cent a year.

“Superfast broadband also breaks down barriers to doing business around Warwickshire and across the globe as it helps small businesses to find new markets, sell new products and communicate more easily and quickly with their customers, suppliers and employees.”

Because the fibre broadband network is being installed by Openreach, households and businesses have a wide choice of fibre broadband providers. Upgrades do not happen automatically. Anyone wanting to benefit need to place an order with their chosen fibre broadband provider.

Existing underground ducting is used wherever possible, minimising disruption and the need to dig up roads and pavements.