Gigabit-capable broadband bound for Wiltshire

Recent reports have revealed that thousands of British businesses and households in rural and remote parts of the country will soon have the option of accessing broadband services with lightning-fast speeds.

Over the following five years, more customers in hard-to-reach areas around the UK will have gigabit-capable broadband available to their premises whether they are a residential or business customer. This includes approximately 9,000 addresses based in northern and central Wiltshire.

The broadband infrastructure will be rolled out by BT-owned telecoms company Openreach, with the South Wiltshire contract for services awarded to Wessex Internet.

The extensive work schedule is part of the UK government’s ongoing “Project Gigabit”, a £5 billion external programme specially designed to upgrade broadband connectivity in more remote communities.

Ashley O’Neill, the cabinet member covering broadband on Wiltshire’s Council, commented on the importance of the new service soon to become available in the county:

“Lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband connections have profound benefits for local people and businesses. We look forward to supporting Openreach to achieve a successful rollout of this scheme and seeing the real difference it can make to people’s lives.”

At present, the average internet download speed in the UK is around 73 megabits per second, while gigabit capable broadband offers speeds of 1,000 megabits per second (one gigabit per second). The UK government has stated that it wants 85 per cent of the nation’s population to have gigabit broadband access by the year 2025, with the entire country enjoying the same download speed in 2030.