Super fast broadband boost for thousands!

THOUSANDS more Warrington homes and businesses are set to benefit from super fast broadband providing a major boost to the local economy.
Culcheth is one of the communities to benefit as BT today announced a further major investment in Cheshire pledging to roll-out its £2.5 billion high-speed fibre broadband network to more than 20,500 more homes and businesses across the county.
More than 3,100 homes and businesses in Culcheth are set to benefit and are due to be upgraded in 2013.
The latest investment will take the total number of homes and businesses in Cheshire able to connect to the fibre network to more than 327,000.
Around 241,000 already have access in upgraded areas, which include Lymm, Padgate and Stockton Heath, with Warrington to follow next year.
BT is keen to bring more communities within reach by working with the public sector.
Mike Blackburn, BT’s regional director for the North West, said: “Fibre broadband opens up a whole new, high speed world. This latest major investment will help Cheshire to overcome the current economic challenges and take full advantage of the upturn when it comes.
“Digital technology is fundamental to how we live and work – and in an increasingly connected world, high-speed communications will become even more essential in the years ahead. Research suggests fibre broadband could give a £143 million boost to a typical town’s economy and create 225 new jobs and 140 new businesses within 15 years.
“The fibre broadband network we’re building today will underpin the local economy for many years to come – and we’re keen to go further, working with the public sector to take technology to places outside current commercial roll-out plans.
“The arrival of fibre broadband in each of these new locations will revolutionise the way people use the internet for work, education and connecting with public services.”
Julian Cobley, programme director for the Connecting Cheshire Partnership, said: “Connecting Cheshire welcomes the news of further super-fast broadband in Cheshire, Halton and Warrington. BT’s continued roll-out will contribute significantly to our aspirations to ensure as many homes and businesses as possible have access to super-fast broadband services.
“This will help keep our sub-region competitive within the UK but globally as our day-to-day lives become ever more reliant on digital networks and internet-based technology. If you would like to find out more, visit the Connecting Cheshire website – www.connectingcheshire.org.uk”.
BT’s local network business Openreach is making fibre broadband available to around two-thirds of UK homes and businesses on a commercial basis by the end of 2014 using a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies. More than 11 million premises can already access fibre broadband and that number is growing all the time.
Both technologies offer speeds many times faster than the current UK average, reported by the regulator Ofcom to be 9Mbps. FTTC, where fibre is delivered to new street cabinets, offers download speeds of up to 80Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.
FTTP, where fibre runs all the way to homes and businesses, offers a variety of download speeds with the current top speed being 330Mbps. From Spring 2013 BT aims to make speeds of 330Mbps available on demand in any area where FTTC has been deployed.
Internet users with a fibre broadband connection can do much more online, all at the same time. A family can download a movie, watch a TV replay service, surf the net and play games online simultaneously. A whole album can be downloaded in less than 30 seconds and a feature length HD movie in less than 10 minutes, whilst high-resolution photos can be uploaded to Facebook in seconds.
The upload speeds are the fastest widely available to consumers in the UK, with large video and data files being sent almost instantly and hi-resolution photos posted online in seconds. And high quality voice and video calls mean businesses can keep in touch with customers while they cut down on travel.
For further information on Openreach’s fibre broadband programme visit: www.superfast-openreach.co.uk