Basingstoke MP Maria Miller briefed on broadband rollout in her constituency
On 12th February 2016 Basingstoke MP Maria Miller was briefed on the progress of broadband rollout in her constituency during a meeting with officers from the County Council's superfast broadband programme and executives from BT.
Commercial coverage through BT and Virgin Media is providing access to Superfast Broadband, speeds of 24Mbps and above, to 80% of premises in Hampshire.
The County Council currently has a mandate to work with Openreach - BT’s local network business – to increase the number of county premises with Superfast Broadband access from 80% to 96% by 2018.
Wave 1 of the programme, due for completion by the end of April 2016, has reached over 80,000 premises through the upgrade of 350 cabinets, increasing access to 90% of households and businesses.
Wave 2 of the programme has just begun and will reach over 34,000 premises across the county between January 2016 and September 2018. Once completed, Wave 2 will make Superfast Broadband available to 96% of premises in Hampshire.You can read more about this here.
Maria Miller's constituency of Basingstoke has been upgraded predominantly under the commercial upgrades by BT and Virgin Media. However, the constituency has 14 cabinets due for upgrade under the County Council's programme, spread across the Basingstoke, Turgis Green and Dummer exchanges. We upgraded one cabinet in 2016, two in 2015 and nine in 2014. There are two cabinets due for upgrade by the end of 2016.
Maria Miller was also briefed on the current issues surrounding broadband provision to new build housing developments, of which there are several in her constituency. The County Council is working hard to engage with developers at the outset to ensure that the infrastructure for superfast broadband is in place before construction begins. You can read more about this issue here.
Map detailing coverage in Basingstoke. Pink shading - commerical upgrades by Virgin Media or BT; red shading = wave 1 upgrades by Hampshire County Council; blue shading = wave 2 upgrades by Hampshire County Council.
L-R: Glenn Peacey, Hampshire Superfast Broadband Programme Manager; Patrick Blogg, Assistant Director for Transformation, Hampshire County Council; Maria Miller MP for Basingstoke; Stacey King, BT regional partnership director for the South East and Grant Munn, BT Hampshire Programme Manager