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Connecting Cheshire unveils fibre broadband roll-out map

Connecting Cheshire has unveiled its fibre broadband roll-out map which will bring high speed broadband to 96 per cent of Warrington and Cheshire.

The Connecting Cheshire project was launched in April 2013, following the signing of the contract between four Cheshire councils (Warrington Borough Council, Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Halton Borough Council) and BT, which will see a total fibre broadband investment in the county of around £28.5m.

The programme will benefit all homes and businesses in Warrington and across Cheshire.

The new map shows where communities throughout the county can expect the high-speed technology to arrive by the end of summer 2015.

Both residents and businesses can check the map by visiting www.connectingcheshire.org.uk/check-availability to find out more.

The map also shows the many, areas already able to access commercial fibre broadband and those areas planned to be connected under the Connecting Cheshire programme, which will extend the network to an additional 80,000 premises in mainly outlying and rural communities, plus those areas still under evaluation.

The Connecting Cheshire broadband programme will be delivered by Openreach, BT’s local network business, building on BT’s commercial investment in the county already committed as part of its £2.5 billion overall commercial investment in UK fibre broadband.

A massive 875 miles of fibre-optic cable will be laid which is more than the distance from Lands end and John O’Groats. This will be a significant engineering challenge testing BT’s engineers to the full as they work to upgrade the county’s infrastructure, both underground and up telegraph poles, in all weather and often at night, to minimise traffic disruption.

The current average downstream speed for the region is 16mbps with some areas only obtaining speeds as low as 2mbps. Connecting Cheshire’s programme will deliver access to world-class broadband speeds of up to 80mbps for 96% of homes and businesses in Warrington & Cheshire.

The high speed broadband programme BT’s network will be open to all communications providers on an equal wholesale basis and so consumers and businesses will benefit from a highly-competitive market, in turn bringing greater choice and lower prices.

The remaining final four per cent of premises will see faster speeds as the project aims to deliver 2mbps or more to all homes and businesses by the end of 2016, via upgrades to the existing copper network. Connecting Cheshire is also looking to work with these communities to see if broadband speeds can be increased through innovative collaborative projects or via additional sources of funding.

Connecting Cheshire expects to announce in early December which specific areas will be included in the first stage of its roll-out, with further phased announcements thereafter.

Homes and businesses in at least 20 telephone exchange areas should see upgrades as part of the first phase and be able to contact their internet service provider to order a switch to fibre broadband from the end of March 2014 onwards.

Terry O’Neill, Leader of Warrington Borough Council said:“This is a tremendously exciting announcement. The roll out of this programme will not only benefit homes across the borough of Warrington but will give our businesses a huge competitive edge. We are already at the top of the economic growth tables but this will help us to maintain and build upon this position.”

Steve Park, managing director, Warrington & Co. said:“High speed broadband is now a ‘must have’ for business and an essential service. Warrington is already the location of choice for business because of our road and rail networks and this high speed fibre network connection will make the town even more attractive as a business location.”

Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Next Generation Access, said: “We’ve made great progress planning our network for Cheshire but, with a programme of this size, it’s not possible to upgrade every area at the same time and, sadly, not all exchange areas will become live on the same date. So please bear with us – we are going to be working as fast as we can to bring more fibre to more people over the next two years.”

To view the Connecting Cheshire broadband rollout and coverage map visit www.connectingcheshire.org.uk and click the Check Availability tab.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .