Superfast broadband expanded in Holsworthy

Eight fibre broadband cabinets mean over 1,600 households and businesses in Holsworthy can now connect to superfast broadband. The Connecting Devon and Somerset team attended the Holsworthy Town Council meeting on 7 January 2015 to answer any questions and encourage people to use the new service.

Connecting Devon and Somerset today announced an expansion of superfast fibre broadband in the market town of Holsworthy in the Torridge District of Devon. The latest areas to benefit include Holsworthy Industrial Estate.

It brings the total number of Holsworthy households and businesses with access to superfast speeds to more than 1,600. This has been made possible by the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme, which aims to make superfast broadband speeds of 24Mbps and above available to around 90 per cent of homes and businesses across the two counties by the end of 2016.

Barry Parsons, County Councillor for Holsworthy said: “We’ve been looking forward to greater access to broadband for some time, as this will allow many more businesses to take advantage of the growing numbers of people shopping online. Connecting Holsworthy Industrial Estate should really help our local businesses thrive.

“This has been a great example of partnership working, as Devon County Council, Connecting Devon and Somerset and BT have been working closely to keep the local community informed and ensure that Holsworthy benefits from the switch on. It is even ahead of schedule, as we were planned to go live in April 2015.”

Dan Piper, senior project manager for BT, said: “The expansion of superfast broadband in Holsworthy is another important step forward in a partnership that is already making a major contribution to the future prosperity of the South West. Whatever you do online you can do it better with fibre broadband whether you are a local business looking to find new customers and work more efficiently or a household planning to use this exciting technology for online education, social or entertainment purposes. More than 340,000 Devon households and businesses already have access to fibre broadband as a result of the Connecting Devon and Somerset partnership and BT’s own commercial programme.”

Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, Cabinet Member for Economy and Growth for Devon County Council, also commented: “It is wonderful to see so many people getting connected as a result of this programme. It is predicted that Connecting Devon and Somerset will provide an economic boost to the region of around three quarters of a billion pounds and every new connection made will contribute to that.

“With the new £38 million funding announced in August last year, we will be able to reach at least 95 per cent of people across Devon and Somerset by 2017, and our ultimate aim remains to provide 100 per cent coverage. There’s still a lot to do, but we are already seeing significant progress.”

More information on Connecting Devon and Somerset can be found at the website:www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk.

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Notes to Editors

• Most of the programme will be Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology, where the fibre runs from the telephone exchange to a fibre optic street cabinet.
• It can deliver download speeds of up to 80Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps. These are the top wholesale speeds available to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.

About Connecting Devon and Somerset
Councils across Devon and Somerset are working together to bring faster broadband to the area and deliver improved broadband for rural Devon and Somerset – the “final third” – rural areas that are unlikely to benefit from commercial investment in broadband.

The Connecting Devon and Somerset project covers Devon County Council, Somerset County Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Plymouth City Council, Torbay Council, and North Somerset Council areas.

In 2011 the project secured £32 million of funding from the government agency Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and both Somerset and Devon County Councils committed up to £10 million each. Further funding from Bath and North East Somerset Council brought the public sector total close to £53 million. With the £41 million additional investment from BT, Connecting Devon and Somerset is a £94 million project.
For more information, visit www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk

About “Get up to Speed”
The ‘Get up to Speed’ service is delivered by the Cosmic Peninsula Consortium on behalf of Connecting Devon and Somerset. The newly established consortium, formed by Peninsula Enterprise and Cosmic IT, is undertaking a series of workshops and events that will follow the infrastructure roll out as it moves across Devon and Somerset, helping businesses and individuals access information and develop the skills they need to get the most from the faster broadband speeds.
For more information please visit www.get-up-to-speed.co.uk

About Superfast Britain
Superfast Britain is a Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race. The portfolio is comprised of three elements:
• £780m to extend superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017
• £150m to provide high speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities
• £150m to improve quality and coverage of mobile phone and basic data network services
Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of life.
For further information, visit https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk