Bury St Edmunds MP Jo Churchill met with Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach for a progress report and to discuss the next stage towards full broadband coverage across Suffolk.
Jo Churchill described the meeting as “very encouraging” saying that great progress had been made on key cases where residents had been left frustrated and that, working together with Openreach “we can begin to turn our attention to the remaining homes still awaiting coverage.”
It is estimated that, from July to August of this year, over 700 residencies had been connected to superfast broadband, with 250 being connected to fibre- to-the-premises (FTTP).
Having recently conducted a tour of villages across her constituency, Jo Churchill said that residents returned “positive accounts of homes being connected and improved engagement and communication from Openreach, especially in areas where connectivity is typically poor.”
The Bury St Edmunds MP now wants to turn her focus to making superfast broadband available to the remaining “harder to reach” homes and businesses, around 5,000 in total across her constituency, often in very remote areas and a considerable distance from a nearby street cabinet.
“Self-dig options for farmers or the extension of new builds to serve as a ‘hub’ for connecting services is just some of the ways we will consider moving forward.
This will be no easy feat but that is why Clive, myself and the Suffolk Broadband working group have been meeting and working through these challenges in the interest of residents.
We have made great progress and I want to sustain this into the final push and hardest stage of our campaign for full broadband coverage across Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket and all our villages.”
Clive Selley, Openreach CEO, said:
“We’re making great progress across Suffolk and our partnership shows what can be achieved when government and the private sector works closely together. It was pleasing to hear these efforts recognised by Jo Churchill MP, and now we’re getting on with the job of extending faster, more reliable broadband services even further across the county, particularly to some of the most remote rural communities.”
Openreach information regarding fibre to the premises (FTTP) with ultrafast connectivity
https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/ultrafast-broadband/ultrafast-fibre-fttp