Rural Oxfordshire to see ultrafast broadband boost
Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) has announced that UK internet service provider (ISP) Airband and network operator Openreach (BT) have been awarded contracts to assist in the rollout of ultrafast broadband across the county.
The boost is to be supported by public funding of £6.3 million from DEFRA, awarded through its Rural Broadband Infrastructure fund (RBI). The broadband to be rolled out will largely be through a traditional Fibre-To-The-Premises (FTTP) network.
Currently, the existing state aid supported project Better Broadband for Oxfordshire, a co-operation with BT and Building Digital UK, has seen superfast broadband (24Mbps+) reach 97 per cent of the county. This is an increase from 69 per cent in 2012, and equates to connecting an additional 77,000 properties.
The contracts in question seek to deliver ultrafast broadband to an additional 970 small businesses (SMEs), while the suppliers will also connect around 900 nearby residential properties with full-fibre broadband, at their own cost. Cumulatively, this is thought to extend the county’s superfast broadband coverage to 98 per cent.
Oxford County Council Digital Connectivity Programme Director Craig Bower, said: “This is a great boost for Oxfordshire’s rural SME’s. All the businesses in scope currently have slow broadband when they increasingly need fast access to online resources to improve productivity and be competitive.
Our existing Better Broadband programme has delivered superfast access to over 77,000 premises and we know it is making a huge difference to residents and business with over two thirds of those able to connect subscribing to the superfast services.”
Chris Franklin, Rural Development Area Manager for DEFRA said: “We are keen to help rural businesses to be able to prosper and grow – ultrafast broadband is critical to enable this, improving productivity, and creating a level playing field with businesses in more urban areas both in the UK and abroad”
The project will see the addition of several hundred kilometres of fibre to the county’s most rural areas, with work aimed to be completed by June 2022. The delivery programme will be managed by the county council.
