B4SW Start Roll-out of 1Gbps FTTP Broadband to South Westmorland

The Broadband for South Westmorland project, which aims to roll-out a 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP/H) broadband network to the rural communities of Old Hutton & Holmescales, New Hutton and Preston Patrick in Cumbria (England), yesterday began construction with local volunteers.

More than 500 local homes and businesses in the area look set to benefit from the deployment and around 300 of those have already expressed an interest in taking the service, which typically costs customers £30 .inc VAT per month and £150 (one-off) to install.

The project is a spin-off of the successful B4RN network, which has already confirmed that their fibre optic cable would reach a cabinet at J36 Auction Mart and that was close enough for the local communities to consider mucking in with their own 40 miles worth of cable duct / network extension.

As usual B4RN will use a mix of contractors and local volunteers to help build the network and this is being supported by an accumulated investment of around £280,000+. However the precise build cost won’t be confirmed until the final surveys have been completed in a few months’ time, although they already have enough money to complete the bulk of the new network.