Superfast Cornwall Reaches 82 Percent Fibre Coverage

The Superfast Cornwall fibre network is now available to 206,000 homes and businesses, or 82 percent of the county and the Isles of Scilly, with new research indicating that jobs are being created or saved as a result of improved connectivity.

The £132 million project was first announced in 2010, with BT providing £78.5 million and the European Regional Development Fund supplying £53.5 million, and originally intended to serve 80 percent of the county by the end of 2014.

Superfast Cornwall has reached this target 15 months ahead of schedule and has since increased its goal to 95 percent of the county by the end of 2015, making it one of the best connected areas in the UK and the best connected rural region in Europe.

BT rollout

“We’re very proud of the work BT is doing in Cornwall, and in many ways the region has become a perfect template for us in other rural areas of the UK,” says Liv Garfield, CEO, Openreach. “We’ve been able to go even further than originally planned and, thanks to the success and skill of our engineering team, we reached our original target of 80 per cent coverage some 15 months ahead of schedule.

“All of this means homes and businesses across Cornwall are in a position to exploit the speeds that superfast broadband brings and reap the benefits – including a boost to prosperity.”

The first premises were connected to the network in 2011, and Nigel Ashcroft, Superfast Corwnall programme director for the Cornwall Development Company, says the rollout will help BDUK see what the impact of fibre might be in their regions.

“We’ve put a big chunk of our European money into this and it is central to our other investments”, he adds, claiming the local economy had already been invigorated by the rollout of fibre.

High ca-pasty links

Superfast Cornwall has already secured 35,000 subscribers and 4,130 SMB customers connected through a mixture of Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) technology, and research suggests that the network is already providing a major boost to small businesses in the county.

A study conducted by SERIO at Plymouth University and Buckman Associates claims that after just 12 months using fibre services, 83 percent of SMBs said they were saving time and money thanks to the faster speeds, while six out of ten said they were growing as a result of enhanced connectivity

A quarter said they have created or retained positions directly as a result of fibre, while 37.5 percent said that superfast broadband had improves sales, 24 percent of which said they had gained overseas business.

The authors say that if their sample of 88 businesses were extended to the whole of the county, 767 jobs could be created by fibre and a further 1,390 saved. They admit that there is margin for error, and could be slightly skewed by the enthusiasm of early adopters, but even the worst case scenario would be positive.

Cornwall’s High Speed 2

Some businesses in Cornwall previously had to rely on 500Kbps connections so slow that they have considered moving elsewhere in order to grow, despite their preference to stay in the county.

The arrival of fibre has allowed them to increase productivity through the use of applications like Skype and cloud services providing resources previously unattainable due to the high cost of infrastructure.

Alun Morgan, technical director for ARCOL, a manufacturer with no customers in Cornwall, says the transition from 500Kbps to 92Mbps had made a “dramatic difference” to the way it does businesses, and has allowed it to secure more international sales.

“This is Cornwall’s High Speed 2,” he declares, saying that because the county doesn’t have a high enough population density to attract transportation infrastructure, connectivity is even more important.

Jess Ratty, communications manager at digital marketing firm KEO Digital in Newquay, the presence of fibre in the region is allowing news businesses to locate there, retaining young talent that could be otherwise lured elsewhere.

Liv Garfield adds that Cornwall is ahead of the curve with regards to fibre connectivity, but although she denies the cost is prohibitive, she admits not all businesses need the faster speeds.

“Fibre is a premium product for businesses and consumers,” she says, suggesting that hairdressers are not going to need lighting fast connections.

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