Thousands of rural homes and businesses across nine Suffolk villages are set to receive UK-leading broadband speeds as County Broadband kicks off construction of its new full fibre networks.
The Essex-based community provider, backed by a £146m private investment from Aviva Investors, gave the project the green light after seeing high levels of demand from local homes and businesses for its service.
Once complete the full fibre networks, which deliver fibre cables directly to the property, will provide speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps. They replace the existing ‘Superfast’ networks which rely on outdated copper cables which the government has said are no longer fit for purpose.
County Broadband is working with its build Partners AB Installs and Highway Workforce to deliver the new infrastructure. The nine villages in the rollout are: Bentley, Brantham, Capel St. Mary, Copdock, Washbrook, Layham, Nayland-with-Wissington, Raydon, and Stratford St. Mary.
The alternative network provider (alt-net) has committed to deliver its full fibre networks to half a million premises across the East of England by 2027 as part of a pledge to help future-proof the region and boost economic growth.
James Salmon, Director of Sales and New Territories at County Broadband, said: “We’re pleased to be kicking off construction of our new full fibre networks across these nine Suffolk villages. It’s clear from the homes and businesses we speak to that the existing copper-based infrastructure simply can’t keep up with modern demands from remote working, streaming to accessing online services.
“Building these networks is a complex process which takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight. That’s why it’s essential we start future-proofing communities today to ensure they aren’t left behind over the coming years as the way we live and work continues to evolve.
“In the recent Budget the government emphasised the need deliver long term, sustainable economic growth. To achieve this, we must have the underlying digital infrastructure in place. That’s why we’ve set out ambitious plans for the East of England to put the region on the best footing for continued growth and investment.”
County Broadband’s full fibre networks use fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure in which fibre optic cables are installed directly into the premises, offering download and uploads speeds of 1,000Mbps. It replaces fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) Victorian copper-based infrastructure on which ‘superfast’ is based.
Alfie Beaney, director at AB Installs, said: “Suffolk is a beautiful area and it’s important this is retained. As a civil engineering company, we are always conscious of this and our friendly and experienced engineers will be working very hard to deliver this new service. A huge amount of planning and surveying is going into these areas prior to our build teams arriving to ensure safe working practice and to help minimise disruptions.”
Lee Merces, Managing Director at Highway Workforce, added: “Our build programme is now in full swing and the Highway Workforce teams are working hard to bring full fibre to villages across Suffolk. Our highly skilled management team brings a wealth of experience from across the country to deliver the new networks with minimal disruption. We are all very proud to play such a vital role in the fibre revolution and to be working in partnership with County Broadband to contribute to the Suffolk economy by improving connectivity for communities and business.”
