North Norfolk is among the worst 20 local authorities in the UK for full-fibre broadband connectivity, a new report from Point Topic has revealed.
Some 90% of homes and businesses – a total of 56,540 premises – are unable to access to gigabit speeds, its research found.
In contrast, 37% of UK premises can access a full-fibre network, according to Ofcom’s new separate Connected Nation’s report.
Rural specialists County Broadband is aiming to connect half a million premises across the East of England to its full-fibre network by 2027 following a combined £146m private investment from Aviva Investors.
County Broadband recently announced the appointment of NGE as its civil engineering partner to lead its multi-million-pound investment in Norfolk’s digital infrastructure.
County Broadband is building fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure to 55 rural communities in Norfolk, including North Norfolk as well as the Breckland, Broadland, and South Norfolk areas. A total of 20,000 rural premises will benefit from access to gigabit speeds and superior network reliability in Norfolk.
James Salmon, Director of Sales and New Territories at County Broadband, said: “Residents and local businesses will be disappointed but probably not surprised to see this new research showing North Norfolk as being among the worst areas in the UK for broadband performance.
“Rural areas like North Norfolk are suffering from old ‘Superfast’ copper networks which cannot keep pace with modern life and are long overdue the once-in-a-generation digital infrastructure investment that full-fibre broadband represents.
“That’s why we’re designing and building our multi-million-pound full-fibre networks in North Norfolk right now, so thousands of rural homes and businesses can benefit from gigabit speeds and network reliability in the near future. These projects are complex and time-consuming but we have the experience and resources to overcome these challenges.
“We were thrilled to recently announce our appointment with NGE to spearhead the physical construction of our build plans across Norfolk and ultimately ensure that everyone, no matter where you live or work, can benefit from gigabit speeds and superior reliability, and bring to an end the postcode lottery.”
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.
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.
Residents and businesses can check if they are covered in County Broadband’s rollout by entering their postcode here.
