08 February 2017
DCMS minister Matt Hancock says superfast speeds are being taken to an extra 3,000 premises every day.
Ultra-fast broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps could soon be available to thousands of homes and businesses in the remotest parts of Northamptonshire.
The private and public partners behind the Superfast Northamptonshire broadband project are extending the telecoms network to areas in the county which otherwise would not be served.
Northamptonshire County Council has signed two contracts with ultrafast broadband provider Gigaclear to deliver stage three of the project which will focus on providing FTTP connections to around 6,300 properties in rural areas.
Its brief is to supply a network capable of supporting download speeds of more than 30Mbps and at least doubling the overall speed available in the areas served.
A total of £6.58 million of public money is being invested in stage three, including £4.9m from the local council and £1.68 million from the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) as part of its Superfast Britain programme. Gigaclear will be investing £3.65 million in the county.
Joe Frost, the company’s business development director, says: “This, together with our current and planned commercial coverage, will mean that we expect to be delivering ultrafast to more than 25,000 residents and business premises in rural Northamptonshire.”
Superfast Britain is a government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. The funding comprises three elements:
• £780m to extend superfast broadband to 95 per cent 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
According to DCMS minister Matt Hancock, nine out of ten homes in the UK can now get superfast broadband.
He says: “We’re taking superfast speeds to an extra 3,000 premises every single day, and another 6,300 homes and businesses in Northamptonshire will now get a fast, full fibre connection as a result of this new contract with Gigaclear.”
