Airband Deploys First Wireless Rural Broadband Mast in Shropshire UK

The Connecting Shropshire project has confirmed that fixed wireless broadband ISP Airband have deployed their first live transmitter site in the UK county, which forms part of a £11.2 million contract that will extend “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) to 14,000+ extra local premises by 2020.

The contract, which was first signed in July 2017 (here) and will take place alongside the project’s existing deployments of FTTC/P technology with Openreach (BT), aims to ensure that 98% of premises (homes and businesses) in Shropshire can access a 30Mbps+ capable superfast broadband service by the middle of 2020.

As part of that deal the first transmitter has now gone live, which is serving 300+ premises around parts of the Sheriffhales and Shifnal parishes, as well as other communities further east, such as Tong. After that a small receiver is attached to individual properties, which enables them to connect to the Line-of-Sight (LOS) network.

Dave Lloyd, Project Manager at Airband, said:

“We are really excited to be announcing the first live site for this important community-based project – it highlights the progress we’re making to help connect rural residents across Shropshire. We’re planning to get several more sites live in the next few weeks and plan to keep up the pace for the duration of the project.”

Nic Laurens, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Broadband, said:

“This is a great, positive step forward for the work Shropshire Council is doing to enhance the quality of life for residents across the county. Superfast broadband enables people living, working and visiting Shropshire to benefit from all that a fast, reliable broadband connection can offer, ultimately boosting the prosperity of the economy.”

Airband’s contract is funded by £1.4m from the ISP, £2.24m from Shropshire Council, £5.29m from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK programme and £2.27m from the Marches LEP. The build for this has also been split into phases, with phase 1 originally being due for completion at the end of winter 2017.

Customers typically pay from £10 per month for a basic 30Mbps (2Mbps upload) service with a 10GB usage allowance, 12 month contract and £99 one-off installation fee. Meanwhile the top package costs £42 for an unlimited 30Mbps (4Mbps upload) connection. Credits to Patrick for pointing us towards the update.