Superfast broadband spreads

MORE than 2,500 more premises in Warrington are now able to upgrade to superfast fibre broadband.
The properties – homes and businesses – are in the Westbrook area of the town where broadband speeds have notoriously been poor.
Across Cheshire and Warrington, Connecting Cheshire’s roll-out of its new fibre-optic network – bringing speeds of up o 80 megabits per second – is now available to more than 15,000 properties.
Residents and businesses can check availability of fibre broadband by contacting their broadband provider or by visiting the Connecting Cheshire website: www.connectingcheshire.org.uk
A partnership between BT and the four Cheshire councils, Connecting Cheshire aims to have made fibre broadband by the end of 2015.
This is in addition to BT’s commercial investment in fibre across Cheshire, Halton and Warrington and by the end of 2015 a total of 400,000 premises (around 96 per cent) are expected to have access to high-speed broadband.
Steve Park (pictured) managing director of economic development group Warrington and Co, said: “This is fantastic news for Warrington residents and a great milestone for the project. Fibre and enhanced connectivity is vital to secure and maintain growth for the economy and will complement
our big regeneration plans.
“We’re thrilled the rollout is now ongoing and more areas are to come in the following months.”
Mike Blackburn, BT’s North West regional director, said the completion of the first phase of the partnership’s work within 12 months was an engineering triumph.
He added: “The BT team are working flat out to bring high-speed broadband to Cheshire, Halton and Warrington. This is a complex engineering task that will ensure people and businesses across Cheshire can have fibre broadband as part of their everyday lives and work.”