Cambridgeshire County Council announces plans for full fibre connectivity
In a bid to improve full fibre connectivity throughout the area, Cambridgeshire County Council has devised a set of plans to deploy high speed fibre-to-the-premise superfast networks and updates mobile services to benefit and boost homes and businesses alike.
The council’s ambitious plans aim to expand its full fibre network to 30 per cent of Cambridgeshire by 2022 in an attempt to support the county’s Connecting Cambridgeshire digital strategy.
Backed by the Economy and Environment Committee, the programme will push for the rollout of fibre optic lines directly to properties so as to increase internet access and speeds. The initiative will also maximise on the £80 million commercial investment in order to incur no extra costs to the council and its ability to rollout the technology, whilst it upgrades 150 public buildings to support FTTP networks.
Chairman of the Economy and Environment Committee, which also manages the Connecting Cambridgeshire initiative, Councillor Ian Bates, said: “Cambridgeshire County Council’s forward-thinking approach to extending full fibre coverage aims to put the county at the forefront of the UK’s digital development and supports the Government’s ambition to reach 50 per cent of the country with fibre by 2025.
“It builds upon Connecting Cambridgeshire’s strength in delivering leading digital programmes, particularly the superfast broadband rollout which will reach 97 per cent of premises this year, and is on track to reach over 99 per cent of the country by 2020, bringing the latest fibre to the premise technology to rural areas.
“Digital connectivity is a ‘game changer’ so we must plan ahead to increase the availability of gigabit services for homes and businesses across the county by using public sector assets innovatively and creating conditions that make it commercially viable for full fibre rollout.”
It is hoped that these plans will play a pivotal part in the Government’s target of superfast broadband reaching 99 per cent of homes and businesses by 2020, particularly in hard-to-reach rural areas.
