Superfast Telford achieves major milestone

Twice as many people are reaping the benefits of the Superfast Telford roll-out of fibre broadband compared with just six months ago, lead partners Telford & Wrekin Council and BT announced today.

The percentage of households and businesses choosing an upgrade has jumped from 10 per cent to more than 20 per cent since September – and the number is continuing to grow rapidly.

More than 3,000 premises across the borough are now able to access superfast fibre broadband as a result of Superfast Telford, which is part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme.

Areas of the borough to benefit recently include parts of Lightmoor, Ironbridge, Tibberton, Stirchley, Aqueduct and Lawley.

JoJo Chidlow, a working mum of four, upgraded her family to the new technology as soon as it became available at their home in Lightmoor earlier this year.

She said: “With four children who all want to be online at the same time, being able to have superfast fibre broadband has made a huge difference to us all. Our download speeds are more than 75 megabits per second (Mbps) which is 30 times faster than we had before, and the connection is so much more reliable now.

“We do so much over the internet. My two eldest sons love gaming, I enjoy watching movies on Netflix and my two youngest children like to watch their own programmes elsewhere. Since upgrading, we can download family movies with no delay rather than having to wait for hours and there’s no more ‘buffering’ when streaming films or gaming online. I was even able to Skype my mum when she was away on holiday in Mexico.”

Councillor Angela McClements, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Customer and Neighbourhood Services, said: “Making fibre broadband available to 3,000 households and businesses is a major achievement for the Superfast Telford programme, but we’re keen for even more local people to benefit. Our project teams are working hard to make it available to more parts of the borough, as quickly as possible. And in areas where it is already ‘live’, I would encourage people to take advantage of this fantastic technology. There’s lots of useful information on the Superfast Telford website.”

Ian Binks, BT’s regional manager for the West Midlands, said: “Every day we’re hearing how faster fibre broadband is changing people’s lives for the better. Whether it’s people wanting to run a business or work from home, or residents like the Chidlow family wanting to connect several devices to the internet at the same time for leisure or learning – everything is easier and quicker with superfast fibre broadband.”