Innovation and ambition guarantees faster broadband for Hampshire
Posted on Tuesday February 10 2015 by
As the number of premises reached by the national Superfast Broadband programme achieves two million, Hampshire County Council has unveiled the next areas due to benefit from the Hampshire programme. So far, 28,309 homes* and businesses across the county have been connected to new Superfast Broadband cabinets, enabling people to ‘switch on’ to broadband speeds of between 24 and 76Mbps. Alongside Government funding, Hampshire County Council and its partners are investing more than £26 million which will provide Superfast Broadband access to at least 95% of homes and businesses in Hampshire by 2018.
The announcement came on the day that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Sajid Javid, came to Bramdean in Hampshire to see progress on the Government-funded trial of hybrid technology being undertaken in that area by Call Flow, a Kent-based telecomms company. This will benefit 1,600 premises in the hard to reach rural areas and is on top of Hampshire’s Superfast Broadband programme. It is one of eight projects being run centrally by the Government and is part of national research into the means by which the ‘final five per cent’ of premises across the country can access superfast services.
BT Openreach is now working on Phase 5 of the County Council’s programme, which is set to benefit a further 15,000 homes and businesses. It will see broadband cabinets switched on in the rural areas of: Aldershot, Andover, Chilworth, Binsted, Bucks Horn Oak, Lower Froyle, Bentley, Bishops Waltham, Blackwater, Chandlers Ford, Ewshot, Crondall, Eastleigh, Fareham, Farnborough, Grateley, Hamble, Netley Abbey, Hambledon, Hartley Wintney, Heckfield, Rowlands Castle, Nursling, Rownhams, Silchester, Pamber Heath, Shipton Bellinger, Titchfield, Over Wallop, Middle Wallop, Fyfield, Thruxton, Penton Mewsey and Wickham.
Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Roy Perry, said: “Our goal is to see as many premises as possible connected across Hampshire, making superfast services available in areas where commercial provision has not been made by the private sector.
“We have also recently launched our ‘Getting Connected’ programme to start to address the problem of new premises on housing developments with no access to superfast services; and are working with local district and borough councils and housing developers to make sure that broadband is given a high profile from the start of the planning process for new homes.
"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.”
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 Superfast Broadband services are set to transform the way households use the internet, from the simple sharing of pictures and video, and on-line learning and research, to enjoying the growing boom in entertainment services available on-line.
Bill Murphy, BT Managing Director of next generation access, said:
“Today marks a giant step forward in the rollout of fibre broadband in Hampshire and across the UK. Across the county more than 664,000 homes and businesses now have access to high-speed fibre broadband thanks to Hampshire Superfast Broadband and BT’s own commercial fibre broadband programme. We are now reaching into the heart of scores of communities across the region that have so far, been beyond the reach of this vital technology.
“There can be few areas of modern life which are not influenced in some way by broadband – whether it’s supporting how we work, how we learn, how we communicate with friends and family - or for general entertainment. Now’s the time to embrace high-speed broadband and to switch to the superfast lane.”
To see a map of all the phases in the Hampshire Superfast Broadband Programme click here
To see if your home or business is covered by the Innovation Fund click here.
*Figures for January 2015