Bentham homes and businesses go super-fast super quick

More than 150 local households and businesses already using fibre broadband only a few weeks after it was introduced 

People in Bentham are racing to sign up for super-fast fibre broadband as the rollout in the town nears completion.

Since the first fibre broadband cabinet went ‘live’ less than six weeks ago, more than 150 households and businesses have started using the new technology - and demand continues to grow as more and more people living and working in the Bentham area place orders and boost their speeds to up to 80Mbps*. This is around ten times the maximum speed previously available.

It’s great timing with Christmas fast approaching. Bentham’s first fibre broadband customers will be able to catch up on their favourite festive TV in high definition with no buffering, new tablets and smartphones will work quickly and easily on Wi-Fi and Skype calls to friends and family on Christmas Day will be able to take place without interruption.

Councillor Carl Les, chairman of Superfast North Yorkshire, said: “Every day the number of services delivered to us online, whether designed to entertain, educate, do business better or to simply meet our daily needs, is growing. It is great news that so many homes and businesses in Bentham are taking advantage of the benefits of this new technology so soon after it has arrived.”

The Superfast North Yorkshire team recently held a launch event in High Bentham to celebrate the much anticipated arrival of the new, high-speed technology which is now available to around 1,500 homes and businesses in High Bentham, Low Bentham, and the nearby village of Burton in Lonsdale. The final cabinet which serves some of the western side of High Bentham is expected to ‘go live’ early next year.

Councillor Linda Brockbank, local councillor and chairman of Craven District Council, said: “Local residents and businesses have been looking forward to the Superfast North Yorkshire rollout reaching Bentham and Burton-in-Lonsdale and I’m delighted that we’ve seen so many people sign up already. The roll out of fibre based broadband is vital to rural communities like Bentham. A fast internet connection is a huge boost for local businesses to promote themselves and sell to a wider audience.”

Andrew Armstrong, from Toobys Electical, an independent electrical retailer in Bentham, said: “We have seen a huge increase in demand for Smart TVs in the Bentham and Burton in Lonsdale area as people can now access all the on-demand and catch-up TV streaming features that require high speed broadband. It is great for the town that homes and businesses can now access the same connectivity available in more urban areas.”

The work included building one of the longest fibre optic feeds or ‘spines’ of the Superfast North Yorkshire roll-out to date, a link of more than ten miles which passed over the River Lune and past the A65 between Bentham and the telephone exchange in Kirkby Lonsdale.

Tom Keeney, BT’s regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: ““Getting this network in the ground is an achievement in itself but the true measure of success will come when people in communities across the county place orders and reap the benefits of faster connectivity. Then we will really see how successful the North Yorkshire community can be when they fully exploit the benefits this technology can bring to home life, work life and the local economy.”

Superfast North Yorkshire , a partnership led by North Yorkshire County Council and BT, has already made fibre broadband available to more than 140,000 other homes and businesses across the county, including Bentham.

The majority of premises in North Yorkshire will be getting access to some of the best broadband speeds in the country via Superfast North Yorkshire and BT’s associated commercial roll-out.

BT’s network is open to all broadband service providers on an equal wholesale basis so consumers and businesses benefit from highly competitive products and pricing. Fibre broadband means everyone in the family can do their own thing online, all at the same time, whether it’s downloading music in minutes or watching catch-up TV; streaming HD or 3D movies in a few minutes; or posting photos and videos to social networking sites in seconds.

The benefits are also considerable for businesses, which can do much more in far less time. Firms can speed up file and data transfers, collaborate with colleagues and customers on conference or video calls or swap their hardware and expensive software licenses for files, processing power and software from cloud computing. Staff can work as effectively from home as they would in the office.

To help businesses in North Yorkshire take advantage of the faster broadband speeds a support service has been put in place to provide free services such as training workshops, skills master classes and business development events. These will demonstrate how faster broadband connections can help to develop business and increase profits by maximising efficiency and productivity. For more information call 0845 0020021 or email: enquiries@sfny.co.uk.

For further information on the Superfast North Yorkshire programme visit www.superfastnorthyorkshire.com

For photos of the SFNY deployment – go here;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/107803477@N08/sets/72157642004199605/

ENDS

1 These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.

About Superfast North Yorkshire

Superfast North Yorkshire was created in July 2012 following the signing of the contract between North Yorkshire County Council and BT, which will see a total fibre broadband investment in the county expected to reach around £70 million.

North Yorkshire is the first county in the UK successfully to deploy Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds, which will be used to extend the roll-out of faster broadband across the county. The project will reach those areas outside of any commercial roll-out using a partnership approach to ensure all communities have access to the fastest possible broadband speeds.

The Superfast North Yorkshire project is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf