BT has been selected to roll out superfast broadband to the majority of homes across East Sussex and Brighton and Hove.
The Go e-Sussex project, as it’s called, will see 99 per cent of homes and businesses across the area able to access superfast speeds by 2016. Most locations, 96 per cent, will be able to get speeds in excess of 24Mbps while the remaining three per cent will get faster speeds that a little below the 24Mbps mark.
Superfast speeds will mainly be delivered by the rollout of FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) broadband which provides top download speeds of 80Mbps. A handful of properties will benefit from the faster and more future-proofed FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) broadband, which delivers download speeds of 330Mbps.
Read Recombu Digital’s guide to Fibre Broadband and BDUKCustomers who get FTTC broadband will be able to pay to upgrade the last mile, that is to say, to replace the copper phone line that runs from the street cabinet to your home, with an optical fibre line. This is fairly expensive however and will likely only be of interested to small businesses in the short term.
Those in the remaining 1 per cent will get a basic 2Mbps service. BT is currently trialling new technologies which could see this delivered by FTTC lines or bonded DSL. In cases where a fixed-line solution is not viable, satellite broadband will be used.
Superfast Broadband in East Sussex – 78 per cent complete by May 2014
BT’s Bill Murphy, managing director of next generation access said that 78 per cent of premises across the area would be able to order superfast broadband by May 2014.
In total, 364,000 properties wil be connected to superfast by 2016. Of these, 66,000 will be in hard to reach areas.
Preparations and initial surveying work will commence on Monday, June 3 and its expected that the first customers will get connected in nine months’ time.
Cllr Keith Glazier, Leader of East Sussex County Council, said: “It’s absolutely vital this broadband technology is made available to all our residents and small businesses. We want everyone in East Sussex to have access to reliable and faster broadband within the next three years and I’m delighted by this announcement as it’s a major step forward in the project. We know how many residents and businesses are frustrated by slow or no broadband access in East Sussex, especially in rural areas, it’s one of the biggest issues facing our county.”
Read Recombu Digital’s guide to BT Broadband Rollout UpdatesMurphy added: “This is great news for East Sussex. Fibre broadband will provide a strong, reliable connection to the rest of the world – opening new horizons, helping us to be more efficient and keeping us in touch with vital services.
“Faster broadband will help local businesses grow, attracting inward investment and boosting the local economy. If they thrive then everyone thrives – local businesses are the lifeblood of every community, creating jobs and stimulating growth.”
BT is chipping in £9.8 million towards the £35.44 Go e-Sussex project. East Sussex County Council is contributing £15 million and remaining £10.64 million is coming from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) fund.
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