High-speed internet boost as Shropshire's 100th fibre broadband cabinet goes live

The fibre broadband cabinet, which will make the new high-speed broadband network available to nearly 300 premises, was officially switched on by North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson in St Martins, near Oswestry.

Mr Paterson said access to faster internet connection was essential for businesses and could lead to new jobs in the area.

He said: "This is great news for St Martins. Faster fibre broadband is essential to local businesses and I'm certain that it will be a catalyst for the creation of new jobs. It will also transform the lives of local families, whether they're using the technology for working from home, entertainment or education."

One of the places to benefit will be St Martins Broadplace, which offers IT learning opportunities for people of all ages and abilities.

Sue Schofield, who runs the Broadplace and is chairwoman of St Martins Parish Council, said: I've been waiting for this news for some time and I'm really pleased that fibre broadband is now starting to become available in the village. This is especially good news for the local economy; attracting new businesses and enabling people to work flexibly from home.

"I'm looking forward to being able to upgrade to fibre broadband in the Broadplace. Fibre optic broadband will also make the centre more attractive to organisations wanting to deliver online training courses."

The new cabinet in Coopers Lane is the first of four serving St Martins parish that will be going live in the coming weeks as part of Connecting Shropshire, a partnership between Shropshire Council, BT and the Government's Broadband Delivery UK programme, and the first of 10 to be upgraded in the Chirk exchange area.

The Welsh part of the Chirk exchange is being fibre-enabled as part of the Superfast Cymru programme.

Once an area has 'gone live', people will be able to get download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second (Mbps) and uploads of up to 20Mbps.

Ian Binks, BT's regional manager for Shropshire and the West Midlands, said: "Connecting Shropshire is a huge engineering operation, but the rollout is progressing extremely well. Since the first roadside cabinet was switched on in December 2013 in Montford Bridge, our teams have continued to work hard to bring the new technology to as many communities as possible, as quickly as possible.

"Across the county 75 cabinets have been installed to date. Customers can order from 55 today with a further 20 cabinets going live in the next few weeks.

"Residents and businesses wanting to upgrade should contact their chosen broadband service provider."