Worcestershire welcomes commitment to boost county's broadband speeds

By Nicky Godding

30 July 2020

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As more people find they are having to work from home for longer than they anticipated, Worcestershire County Council has welcomed an announcement that will see vast improvements to broadband speeds in rural areas over the next three years.

Evesham and Malvern were 2 of 251 further locations named by BT Openreach today that will be connected to its full fibre network.

Openreach’s new plans will see Full Fibre Broadband available to a further 3.2 million homes and businesses in the hardest to reach parts of the UK by the mid-2020s.

Full Fibre is currently the fastest and most reliable broadband technology using fibre optic cables to connect the exchange directly to each premises.

Councillor Ken Pollock, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy and Infrastructure, said: “I am delighted that the two areas of Evesham and Malvern have today been named as being part of Openreach’s new plans to deploy full gigabit capable fibre networks. Commercial investment in the ‘Full Fibre’ broadband network by operators like Openreach supports improvements in both wider economic growth and quality of life.

“Allowing people to work, access education and services from home and connecting business sites, is absolutely critical to the success of post-coronavirus Britain. This positive announcement will go some way to further improving access to ‘gigabit capable’ broadband in Worcestershire.”

He added: “More investment will be needed from both commercial operators, public sector and potentially communities themselves to achieve the Government’s ambition of Gigabit Broadband speeds for all by 2025. We remain committed to supporting the challenge to help ensure Worcestershire remains a connected, creative, dynamic economy for all.”

Superfast Worcestershire continue its mission to improve broadband speeds in the county, including through the ‘Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme’.

The scheme provides vouchers to support rural businesses and communities access Gigabit Capable broadband.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.