2000 Extra Premises in Hammersmith and Fulham to See “Fibre” Broadband

The Hammersmith & Fulham Council in London UK has reached an agreement with Openreach (BT) that will see a further 2,000 homes and businesses being put within reach of their ‘up to’ 80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) superfast broadband network.

Sadly the press release contains no information on which areas will benefit from this coverage extension or how much investment is involved. However the council does remind us that Openreach are also still piloting their new 330Mbps capable hybrid fibre G.fast technology in parts of Hammersmith and Parsons Green.

At present around 95% of the area can already access a “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) capable network and this announcement, which was made earlier in the month, should push that a little bit further.

Kim Mears, Openreach’s MD for Infrastructure Delivery, said:

“We welcomed the approach by the council as we were very keen to increase the availability of fibre broadband across the borough.

As a result of the approach by the council team, we will be able to expand our coverage over the coming months, and continue to explore options to ensure that we deliver the service wherever it is commercially viable for us to do so.

This is good news for the borough. Hammersmith & Fulham Council should be congratulated for taking the initiative in order to make this additional investment possible.”

Separately the council has also reminded us that that local businesses will “soon” be able to benefit from their on-going partnership with the ITS Technology Group to develop a dedicated fibre optic network. As part of that the local authority gave ITS access to its underground CCTV ducts in order to install the 19km of ducts needed to create the new high-speed fibre network.

Cllr Andrew Jones, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said:

“Super-fast broadband is a key tool in helping local businesses to improve productivity, increase customer satisfaction and save money. We want to provide businesses in H&F with the perfect environment to start up, survive and grow.”

Local businesses can request further information by emailing lbhf@itstechnologygroup.com and some other details can be found on their website (here).