Superfast Progress Across Hampshire
The Hampshire Superfast Broadband Programme has reached a major milestone with the 300th cabinet in Hampshire now enabled with superfast broadband. We have reached an additonal 72,000 Hampshire homes and businesses, which would not have been covered by the commerical market. These premises now have access to new fibre-optic technology providing faster broadband, with most of these premises able to access superfast broadband speeds – i.e. internet speeds greater than 24 Mbps.
Out of these 300 cabinets, BT Openreach upgraded over 25 cabinets in September alone. These are in locations all over the county, from Stockbridge, Hayling Island and Brockenhurst to Liphook, Andover and Silchester. Work is continuing to deliver the final phases of wave 1 upgrades, due by December 2015. Once the programme is complete, more than 97,000 additional homes and businesses will be able to access superfast broadband
Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Roy Perry marked this milestone at the 300th cabinet in Romsey with Councillor Mel Kendal, Executive Member for Capital Receipts, and Stacey King, BT’s regional partnership director for the South East. Councillor Perry said: “We continue to make strong and significant progress with our ambition to ensure people living and working in Hampshire can take full advantage of all the internet has to offer, but I will not be satisfied until we have 100 per cent of premises with access to faster internet speeds.
“However, what is really encouraging is that Hampshire has one of the highest take up rates of superfast broadband in the country. Not only does this demonstrate how important superfast broadband speeds are to Hampshire residents and businesses, but it also means that more can be reinvested in our programme to go even further, by using the ‘clawback’ mechanism we have contractually agreed with BT.”
Stacey King, BT's South East regional partnership director, said: “This is great news and a significant milestone for the Hampshire joint partnership. More high-speed broadband connections in the county will help businesses grow, attracting inward investment and providing a boost to the local economy. Whatever you do on-line, you can do it better with fibre broadband.”
Pictured, from left to right: Cllr Roy Perry, Cllr Mel Kendal, Stacey King