11,000 more residents, getting better connected in Hampshire’s Superfast Broadband Programme

Rural parts of Romsey, New Forest, East Hampshire and Basingstoke will be next to benefit from high-speed broadband speeds, as phase three of Hampshire’s Superfast Broadband Programme is set to provide access to an additional 11,000 homes and businesses between July and December this year.

Hampshire’s Superfast Broadband programme is helping to fill the gap in rural areas, which would otherwise be left out by commercial providers. Phase three of the multi-million pound project will see cabinets switched on in the rural areas of: Lockerley, Lymington, Milford-on-Sea, Brockenhurst, Sway, Liphook, Headley Down, Alton, Tisted, Selbourne and Herriard - which are set to benefit 11,000 premises. To view a detailed map of the areas to be covered in this phase, visit: Project Phases. 

The Hampshire Superfast Broadband Programme aims to provide at least 95 per cent of all premises with access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017.

The Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), together with the County Council and other local government partners, invested £10m in the programme to reach 90 per cent of premises by the end of 2015. The County Council and DCMS will provide additional funding totalling £18.4m to extend coverage to at least 95 per cent of premises by the end of 2017. BT has contributed a further £3.8m towards the cost of installing the new infrastructure.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Roy Perry, said: “The roll-out of superfast broadband is fully on-track and I expect at least 95 percent of homes and businesses in Hampshire to be able to access these services by 2017. Coupled with the recent announcement that Hampshire secured £1.2m to explore innovative solutions to take superfast broadband to some of the more remote and hardest to reach places in the county, we hope to see these services being available to even more of Hampshire’s residents.

"Superfast broadband is increasingly important if local households and businesses are to make the most of the huge range of opportunities offered by the internet, whether they are seeking to start a new business, find new customers, undertake on-line training or simply wish to browse for entertainment or leisure purposes.”

Peter Cowen, BT’s regional partnership director for the South East, said: “Today’s announcement is another important milestone for a partnership which is making real progress. Working with our partners, we are able to bring this game-changing technology to locations where the economics and engineering challenges are that much greater. High-speed fibre broadband is increasingly important if local households and businesses are to make the most of the huge range of opportunities and reap the benefits offered by the internet, whether they are seeking to start a new business, find new customers, undertake on-line training or simply wish to browse for entertainment or leisure purposes.”

The new network is open to all broadband service providers on an equal basis, ensuring competitive pricing and products for local households and businesses.

The technology will boost the competitiveness of local businesses, helping them to find new customers and operate more efficiently, whilst opening up a host of new learning and development opportunities for households.

People using superfast broadband are able to use multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time and send and receive large amounts of data much more quickly and efficiently. New fibre broadband services are set to transform the way households use the internet, from the simple sharing of pictures and video and on-line training and research to enjoying the growing boom in entertainment services available on-line.

For local businesses, superfast broadband will underpin the introduction of many new services and applications. Big business applications driven by new ‘cloud’ services will be within the reach of enterprises of all sizes. Computer backup, storage and processing will be faster, and the use of high-quality videoconferencing will become viable.