£5.5 million boost for fast-fibre broadband in Shropshire
More than £5.5 million of funding has been pledged to provide high-speed fibre broadband for a further 4,000 homes across Shropshire.
Internet exchanges at Montford Bridge, Prees and Munslow will all be set to be enabled for fast-fibre broadband as part of the project.
The fresh £5.6 million investment is an extension of the Connecting Shropshire project, which is rolling out broadband services across the county. About £4.7 million has been provided by the Government-funded Broadband Delivery UK and a further £900,000 by BT.
Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council's cabinet member responsible for broadband, said there is still work to be done in the county, but the funding would mean more people will have access to high speed internet.
He said: "This extension to the Connecting Shropshire programme will provide access to faster fibre broadband to more communities. Even with the extension covering more premises, we know that there is still work to be done which was expected due to the geographical and network challenges we have in Shropshire."
Bill Murphy, BT's managing director of next generation access, said: "Today marks another important milestone. Rolling out fibre broadband in a rural county like Shropshire has its engineering challenges, but our teams have the expertise to ensure the roll-out continues smoothly and quickly."
More details of the other areas to benefit from the funding are set to be revealed later this month, and the upgrade work is scheduled to take place during 2017 and 2018.
So far, more than 34,000 premises are able to upgrade to faster fibre broadband out of the 62,000 planned in the first phase of the Connecting Shropshire roll-out.
Shropshire suffers from a two-tier system of internet speeds, with Telford enjoying some of the quickest in the UK, while outlying areas endure some of the worst.
