The community of Steeple Morden is celebrating after its popular village hall – which has never had an internet connection due to its remote location in South Cambridgeshire – was connected to gigabit-capable full fibre broadband at no cost after County Broadband completed build work.
Rural provider County Broadband has installed the digital infrastructure for the community venue in Steeple Morden for free as part of its £146 million private investment commitment to roll out future-ready full fibre broadband to half a million rural premises across the East of England by 2027.
The Essex-based provider is also waiving the monthly fee to deliver the service free of charge for the village hall, based in Hay Street. The venue can hold up to 150 people and hosts community events for local groups, businesses and individuals, as well as parish council meetings and activities.
Under full fibre broadband, also known as fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure, fibre optic cables are installed directly into premises to provide superior reliability and speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps – 11 times faster than the UK average. It can also be upgraded to 10,000+ Mbps in the future.
FTTP infrastructure is replacing fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) Victorian copper networks, on which slow and unreliable ‘superfast’ broadband connections are based.
Steeple Morden Parish Councillor, Malcolm Bird, said: “We’re really pleased and incredibly grateful for County Broadband offering a free connection to our village hall as part of our full fibre network, after years of having no internet at all and being restricted in the services and events we can offer.
“Zooming from zero speeds to 300 Mbps now has allowed the Parish Council to launch a new community network in an increasingly popular location at the heart of the village to benefit every resident and local business who wants to access from incredibly fast and reliable broadband.”
The free internet access also expands across Steeple Morden’s Village Recreation Ground which includes a cricket pavilion, bowls club and leisure changing rooms, all of which benefit from the new connection.
Malcolm added: “When we’ve looked at suitable broadband in the past, the costs have been simply too high. However, County Broadband’s full fibre rollout, which included the offer of a free village hall connection and no monthly fees, presented us with the perfect solution. They kept us regularly updated throughout the design and build process.
“Our new full-fibre connection unlocks a lot of potential for us, from streaming events like Royal ceremonies and big sporting events, to simply putting on film and theatre nights. We’re really excited to see what we come up with and the positive impacts they’ll have for everyone.”
James Salmon, Director of Corporate Development at County Broadband, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Steeple Morden to our full fibre network and upgrade its village hall from historically having no internet to speeds of 300 Mbps, which can be increased easily as demand grows.
“Village halls are the beating hearts of rural communities and we want to ensure that these halls are able to look to the future to continue to provide for their communities – whether that’s streaming films, hosting special occasions, or running educational evenings. That’s why we offer free connections and no running costs to every village hall across our East of England rural rollout. We look forward to seeing how Steeple Morden uses its new full fibre broadband to positively impact its community – both in 2023 and the years to come.”
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.
