6,000 more Oxfordshire homes and businesses get faster broadband

three more communities now benefiting from roll-out programme; 

BT announced today that faster broadband is now available to a further 6,000 homes and businesses in Oxfordshire.

Burford, Steeple Aston and Checkendon are the latest communities in the county to benefit from upgrades as part of the roll-out of BT’s next generation broadband service delivered over copper lines.
The BT investment will make available download speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps) – more than double the fastest speed previously available from BT.

The faster broadband is already available to around 240,000 Oxfordshire premises and, by next Spring, 90 per cent of homes and businesses in the South East will be served by an exchange which has been upgraded to deliver these higher speeds. The new service is available on an open, wholesale basis to all companies providing broadband*.

John Weaver, BT’s South East regional director, said: “Faster broadband will deliver important benefits for people across Oxfordshire, whether they are running a business, working or studying from home, doing the weekly shop online, downloading films and TV programmes or keeping in touch with friends and family around the world. It can all be done better using faster broadband.

“That’s why BT is determined to bring faster speeds to as many homes and businesses as possible, and we are keen to work with the public sector to find solutions for even the most challenging locations.”

This investment in the copper network is in addition to BT’s £2.5 billion roll-out of fibre-based broadband, which will bring even faster speeds to around two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014.

Note to Editors
*Once an exchange area has been upgraded for next generation broadband, some service providers automatically upgrade their customers to the enhanced broadband service. People should contact their chosen service provider for more information about the products and services they offer.