A Quarter of All Premises in Cornwall UK Reached by Superfast Broadband

The £132 Million “Big Build” Superfast Cornwall project, which aims to make BT’s superfast broadband ISP services available to at least 80% (ideally 90%) of homes and businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by the end of 2014, has expanded its availability to a quarter of all premises (66,000 Cornish premises) in the region.

The joint EU, BT and Cornwall Council scheme (most of the cash, £78.5m, comes from BT) notes that the new service has “just started to become available” in Newquay, Penzance, Torpoint, Lostwithiel and the villages of Pensilva and Probus (i.e. 35 of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly’s 100 telephone exchange areas).

Ranulf Scarbrough, BT’s Superfast Cornwall Director, said:

“This is great progress. The fact that we have just brought superfast fibre broadband to communities as far afield as Penzance in the far West, Torpoint in the East and Newquay in the North helps demonstrate the scale and breadth of the roll-out. We are well on course to reaching 100,000 premises during the Spring.”

Nigel Ashcroft, Programme Director of Superfast Cornwall, added:

“The momentum of the roll-out programme is matched by Cornwall’s enthusiasm for this exciting technology. We’re now seeing over 200 Cornish homes and businesses signing up to superfast broadband each week with about 4,000 premises already using this exciting technology.

There are many examples of firms and individuals transforming their businesses and their lives with superfast broadband. It can give businesses a competitive edge and offer a wide range of educational and entertainment opportunities for households. We plan to boost take-up even further to ensure the maximum contribution to the future prosperity of our communities.”

It’s claimed that “orders are flooding in” (i.e. more than 200 per week), although so far only 4,000 Cornish homes and businesses have actually adopted the superfast broadband service. In fairness it’s still early days and other parts of the UK have seen similarly low uptake.

Alternative technologies, such as wireless ( Wi-Fi ) and Satellite broadband, will be used to boost broadband speeds in locations where optical fibre based solutions ( FTTP / FTTC ) are not currently viable.