More people choosing superfast broadband in Telford

Twice as many people are using the new service compared to six months ago, 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 it is continuing to grow.

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.

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.”

It’s around 15 months since engineers from Openreach started to connect the first households and businesses to the network.

By the end of 2017, around 9,300 households and businesses will have access to fibre broadband, with 8,800 of them able to get superfast download speeds of 24 megabits per second (Mbps) and above.

All the latest information on the programme can be found on the website superfast-telford.co.uk.