In reaction to today’s (13.01.23) GDP monthly estimate from the ONS showing 0.1% growth for November 2022, James Salmon, Director of Sales and New Territories at County Broadband, which is rolling out full-fibre broadband infrastructure in rural East of England following a combined £146 million private investment from Aviva Investors, commented:
“This is positive news for the UK economy at such an important time – and we’re not surprised that telecommunications has been cited as one of the strongest factors given the record levels of private investment being secured in deploying full-fibre broadband to replace old copper-based ‘Superfast’ networks.
“The benefits of full-fibre connectivity with its gigabit speeds and bulletproof reliability are already being enjoyed by thousands of businesses and residents in rural and hard-to-reach communities as part of our rollout across the East of England.
“Seamless video conferencing, instant cloud storage access and lightspeed data transfers are just some of the ways local businesses, from cutting-edge tech start-ups to remote workers, are benefiting from world-class full-fibre connectivity. For residents and families, the ability to reliably shop, bank and learn online at speed from the comfort of your own home is another important pillar strengthening the economy.
“The vital role that alternative network (alt-net) providers such as County Broadband are playing should also not be overlooked. Recent research found that alt-nets achieved the one million milestone for live full-fibre connections in a single year across the UK for the first time. Additionally, the alt-net industry is leading the way with the highest levels of planned investment in full-fibre over the coming years.
“Here at County Broadband, we’ve outlined our commitment to connect half a million rural and remote premises to full-fibre broadband across the East of England by the end of 2027. Supported by our fantastic build partners and ongoing investments and innovation, we look forward to accelerating our rollout throughout 2023.”
Notes:
- The government has set a flagship target to deliver nationwide gigabit-capable speeds in the UK by 2030 to boost economic growth and is relying on local providers funded by private investment, such as County Broadband, to deliver its target.
- UK full-fibre coverage stood at 42% (12.4 million premises), Ofcom’s Connection Nations 2022 report found in December 2022. This was up from 10% in 2019, 18% in 2020, and 28% in 2021.
- Full-fibre broadband delivers fibre cables directly into premises to provide gigabit speeds (1,000 Mbps) that are around 11 times faster than the UK average and can be upgraded to 10,000+ Mbps in the future. Full-fibre broadband replaces fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) copper-based infrastructure on which ‘Superfast’ is based.
- County Broadband, an Essex-based alternative network provider (alt-net) founded in 2003, is designing and building FTTP networks in over 250 villages in Norfolk, Essex, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire as part of a long-term commitment to digitally future-proof the region.
- Earlier this year, County Broadband announced that it had secured a further £100 million in private investment from Aviva Investors to extend its full-fibre rollout towards its target of 500,000 rural premises in the East of England by the end of 2027. This has brought the total private investment to £146 million, following the £46m secured from Aviva Investors in 2018.
- Residents and businesses can find out if they are included in County Broadband’s full-fibre rollout by visiting www.countybroadband.co.uk
