Feb 17, 2015 00:00 GMT Residents ‘excited’ about the arrival of fibre broadband

Information events in Ashley and well attended by local community

Dozens of people living in the villages of Ashley and Hallaton have grasped the opportunity to find out more about the imminent arrival of superfast broadband.

The new technology, which brings download speeds of up to 80Mbps, will soon be available in many Welland Valley communities including parts of nearby Dingley and Medbourne.

A day of local activity, organised by BT, took place on Wednesday 11 February to give local people the chance to find out more and ask any questions they might have.

Paul Bimson, BT’s regional partnership director in the , said: “The people we spoke with in Ashley and Hallaton are clearly very excited about the arrival of fibre broadband. People from many neighbouring villages also came to see us and they are all increasingly aware of the difference that faster speeds will make to everyday rural life. Fibre broadband makes more things possible including catch-up TV, streaming live content and working from home.”

Work to upgrade the broadband network is being carried out by Openreach, BT’s local network business.

BT’s network is open which means residents and businesses wanting to upgrade will still have a wide choice of broadband providers, with more than 140 fibre broadband companies now selling services over BT’s network.

Residents of the Northamptonshire village of Ashley recently announced that they had raised £15,000 to sign a contract with BT to install a new fibre broadband cabinet and underground cable. This work is already underway and is expected to be completed during the Spring.

Stephen Castens from the Ashley Broadband Fundraising Campaign, said: “We raised £15,000 in less than four weeks, which is a fantastic achievement that shows the strength of our resolve and proves how lucky we are to live in such a dynamic village community. The information event outside the farm shop was a huge success and lots of people came along to find out more. The overwhelming feeling is one of excitement as faster broadband speeds are now within touching distance.”

Hallaton and Medbourne are part of the Superfast project that has already made fibre broadband available to more than 23,000 homes and businesses across the county. The new technology is expected to be available by the end of next month (March).

Dingley is part of the County Council-led Superfast Northamptonshire project that has already made fibre broadband available to around 39,000 homes and businesses across the county with public investment. The new technology is expected to be available in Dingley by the end of the year.

BT’s commercial rollout has already made high-speed fibre broadband available to more than 293,000 homes and businesses in Leicestershire and 176,000 in Northamptonshire.

For more information on the Ashley broadband project visit the village website atwww.ashleyvillage.co.uk For more information about Superfast Leicestershire visit www.superfastleicestershire.org.uk For more information about Superfast Northamptonshire visitwww.superfastnorthamptonshire.net

ENDS Contacts

BT Press office Press Contact [email protected]