Extra 1,800 Premises in South Gloucestershire to Get “Fibre Broadband”

The South Gloucestershire Council in England has confirmed that its second state aid supported £1.54m contract with BTOpenreach has now entered into the deployment phase, which should put their “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) network within reach of an extra 1,800+ local homes and businesses.

Apparently the areas of Acton Turville, parts of Aztec West, Bitton, Easter Compton, Falfield, Frenchay, Oldland, Redwick, Winterbourne and Upton Cheyney will see the service for the first time, while there will also be an extension (infill) of existing coverage to parts of Abson, Bradley Stoke, Chipping Sodbury, Filton, Kingswood, Rangeworthy and Thornbury.

Premises in Easter Compton, Eagle Wood Business Park in Almondsbury, Cooper Road in Thornbury and North Road in Yate will be pleased to note that the extension project has just gone live, which means that locals should be able to order the service.

John Goddard, Councillor and Chair of SGC’s Resources Sub Committee, said:

“Thousands of homes and businesses have already benefitted from the first phase of the rollout and as we move in to the second phase of the project, more than 1,800 residential and business properties will also be able to benefit from the extended coverage of fibre broadband.

We understand the importance that broadband plays in our everyday lives from e-commerce to social media, home entertainment to educational attainment which is why we will continue to seek further funding opportunities from BDUK and the Local Enterprise Partnership to push the coverage to even more communities.”

At this point it’s worth reminding readers that South Gloucestershire forms one part of the joint Great Western Broadband project, which is also working alongside the nearby Wiltshire County Council.

Note: South Gloucestershire completed its first Broadband Delivery UK based contract in March 2015 (here), which claims to have made “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) speeds available to 94% of the region or an additional 17,000 premises where commercial upgrades alone had previously refused to go (14,000 with access to 24Mbps+ and 3,000 on sub-24Mbps).