Ultrafast broadband transforms rural Gloucestershire business park
The Hawthorns Business Centre in Staunton, north of Gloucester can now access faster broadband as a result of fibre infrastructure company Glide building a new network as part of the Fastershire Broadband Project.
Fastershire is a partnership between Herefordshire Council and Gloucestershire County Council to bring faster broadband to the two counties, with funding from central government’s Broadband Delivery UK matched by the local authorities. The ultimate aim is that by the end of 2019/20 there will be access to fast broadband for all who need it. (Editor's note - it would be great if Fastershire were a bit more forthcoming about exactly where the Superfast broadband is planned....)
Glide built its independent fibre network to each business on the estate, providing broadband speeds of up to 1Gbt/s, 100 times faster than before and allowing them to operate without the constraints of slow broadband.
Tim Pilcher, CEO of Glide said: “We are delighted to support Fastershire with its efforts to deliver faster broadband services across more rural areas of the UK. The partnership has been a major success in providing seamless broadband to a number of sites.”
The business centre is situated on the Hawthorns Estate Farm and is run by the Padfield family.
Chris Padfield said, “The centre has always been very popular because of our rural location and close proximity to Gloucester and the M5, but the first question is always, ‘how good is your broadband?’. The new connection has transformed broadband access for business tenants so they can continue to grow their businesses and we can offer work spaces to a far wider range of businesses.”
Councillor Patrick Molyneux, Gloucestershire Cabinet Member for Economy, Education and Skills, said, “Currently 94 per cent of Gloucestershire’s homes and businesses can benefit from a superfast broadband service and this is set to increase to 97 per cent over the next two years. Through Fastershire’s business and the new community grants, we’re working to ensure every property can access the broadband they need.”
