Village gets green light for faster web upgrade (From This is Hampshire)

Village gets green light for faster web upgrade

2:00pm Saturday 30th June 2012 in News By Emily Roberts , Chief Reporter

A BOROUGH village will soon benefit from BT’s superfast broadband after the company announced major investment plans in the south east.

Turgis Green is included in the latest phase of BT’s £2.5billion broadband roll-out.

The company is connecting another 25,000 homes and businesses in Hampshire during 2013, taking the total number for the whole county to around 500,000.

In 2010, Basingstoke was one of the first places in the UK to be given faster broadband speeds when BT’s Openreach team upgraded cabinets in the town.

BT said the investment is expected to give a lift to the local economy, and that during the next 15 years, it could give the economy of a typical town a £143million boost, create 225 new jobs and 140 new start-up businesses.

Turgis Green is included on the latest phase of the roll-out, along with Shirley, in Southampton, and Titchfield.

John Weaver, BT’s south east regional director, said: “The arrival of fibre broadband in these new locations is a massive shot in the arm for the local economy, creating new businesses, jobs and educational opportunities.

“The benefits are major and wide-ranging. As our new fibre network expands across the south east, it also brings new potential for offering essential public services online and cost saving across the sectors.

“Local firms and households that make the switch to fibre broadband will be able to do so much more with their connection, whether they’re using it for business, entertainment, education, social networking or shopping – or all of these at once. They’re joining more than 10 million premises, now involved in our fibre network, and becoming part of one of the fastest roll-outs of the technology anywhere in the world.”

Councillor Ken Thornber, leader of Hampshire County Council, added: “This is excellent news for many more people in and around Shirley, Titchfield and Turgis Green.

“They’re the latest in Hampshire who will soon have access to the next generation of internet services. Reliable, fast connections can make all the difference to education and business, and give people much greater scope for interaction with the world around them. In a tough economic climate, this local investment from BT will help make Hampshire an even better place to live, work and do business.”

BT’s fibre broadband offers download speeds of up to 80mpbs and upload speeds of up to 20mpbs, when the fibre is delivered to the street cabinet. The UK’s current average broadband speed is 7.6mbps.

Mr Weaver said: “It’s increasingly important that those living in our more rural areas don’t miss out.”

He added: “We want to help the UK achieve world-class digital connectivity and make sure the communities where we provide services and jobs remain vibrant, strong and connected.”