DC14-105 March 19, 2014

NEXT COMMUNITIES TO BENEFIT FROM SUPERFAST BROADBAND PROGRAMME ARE ANNOUNCED

Mobile showcase will give county businesses insight into what faster fibre broadband can do for them

Superfast Worcestershire, the partnership between Worcestershire County Council and BT, today (Tuesday) announced details of the next communities to get high-speed fibre broadband as part of the £20 million infrastructure programme.

Belbroughton, , , Clows Top, Cutnall Green, Eckington, , Great Witley, Hanley Swan, , Kempsey, Knightwick, Leigh Sinton, , Peopleton, Powick, Rock, , Wichenford and are among the next communities to benefit from the technology for the first time. High-speed fibre broadband is due to be switched on in these communities between October and December.

At the same time the technology will be also made available in parts of , , and Stourport not previously enabled by any commercial programme.

To coincide with this latest development, over the next week or so, businesses in several areas of Worcestershire will be able to meet face-to-face with a member of the Superfast Worcestershire team at a series of free roadshows organised by Worcestershire Business Central.

The broadband element of the touring roadshow is supported by experts from the Council and BT, who will advise local companies on the planned deployment and how using faster fibre broadband can help them to gain new business and improve the way they work. Any local small and medium-sized businesses are welcome to attend.

More details on the Worcestershire Business Central Roadshow are available from: www.business-central.co.uk

The Superfast Worcestershire partnership aims to ensure that high-speed fibre broadband is extended to more than 90 per cent of Worcestershire businesses and homes over the next three years.

It builds on BT’s commercial fibre roll-out, which will enable more than 176,000 premises across the county to access the technology by the end of this Spring. In total, nearly 55,000 businesses and homes are set to benefit from the partnership programme roll-out, once it’s completed.

Superfast Worcestershire is a partnership between Worcestershire County Council, which has invested up to £8.5 million while BT which has invested £8.9 million. A further £3.35 million is being invested by the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) arm of DCMS.

Councillor Simon Geraghty, cabinet member for economy and infrastructure, said: “We recognised how important this vital infrastructure is to local people and businesses in particular have told us the importance of knowing indicative timescales. I am glad that we have been able to work with BT to be able to share as much information as possible.

“We will continue to share further details once they are confirmed, following necessary surveying works, and in the meantime, would urge people to register at: www.superfastworcestershire.com to be kept up-to-date.”

Mike Cook, BT’s regional director for the , said: “Although this is a huge engineering project, the roll-out continues to gather pace as the year progresses. We’re committed to connecting communities as quickly as possible whilst of course planning carefully to ensure we deliver the best value for money as part of our the investment.”

Local people wanting updates on the fibre roll-out can visit the Superfast Worcestershire website at: www.superfastworcestershire.com , visit the Facebook page and join the conversation on Twitter #SuperfastWorcs.

Once an area has gone ‘live’ people will be able to order an upgrade from a wide range of internet service providers as the network is open to all ISPs on an open, wholesale basis, thereby ensuring competitive prices. It enables homes and businesses to access download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second and uploads of up to 20 megabits**.

Earlier this year, Superfast Worcestershire announced Ashton-under-Hill, , Broadway, Cropthorne, Hallow and will be the first communities to benefit from the partnership roll-out between April and September.

In addition, parts of the Malvern district, including a number of business premises on Enigma Business Park, will be able to access fibre as a result of the partnership rollout, which will also extend the availability of high-speed broadband to some areas of and Worcester city centre not previously enabled by any commercial programme.