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Gloucestershire County Council has agreed the award of a contract to Gigaclear to provide ultra fast broadband to more than 6, for sale 000 homes and businesses across the Cotswolds.
Ultra fast download and upload speeds of up to 1Gbps will be delivered using Fibre to the Premises technology to 6,495 hard to reach homes and businesses in the Cotswolds under phase two of the Fastershire project.
This means that by the end of the rollout in 2017, some of the most difficult to reach communities such as Guiting Power, Chedworth, Whelford, Bibury and Icomb will get ultra fast broadband.
This expansion represents Fastershire’s first step in reaching beyond the 90 per cent coverage for faster broadband being delivered in phase one of the project.
Geoffrey Clifton Brown, MP for the Cotswolds, said: “The announcement that 6,495 homes in some of the harder to reach areas of The Cotswolds will receive a good broadband service sounds like wonderful news.
During the election I campaigned on the theme that I would work to deliver a good broadband service for most people in The Cotswolds. This announcement looks like it will go a long way to fulfil that pledge.”
Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “Fastershire was the first national broadband project to develop a plan for reaching the final 10 per cent of homes and businesses with faster broadband.
“Fastershire phase two will enable us to provide faster broadband to some of the county’s most difficult and isolated areas. We look forward to the opportunities that the improved broadband speeds will bring to the Cotswolds.”
The total rollout budget for this contract is £10 million, with £3M coming from Fastershire’s Superfast Extension Programme (SEP) and up to £7M from private investment by Gigaclear. This will make Fastershire the first national fibre broadband project to award SEP investment to any other bidder than BT.
A total of £5.46m for the SEP has been provided by the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) department and matched by Gloucestershire County Council.
Matthew Hare, CEO of Gigaclear, said: “Residents and businesses in the Cotswolds want great broadband. We are convinced that as in other rural areas that we already serve, the demand for the pure fibre, ultrafast broadband service that Gigaclear delivers will be substantial.
“What was refreshing about this tender was the identification of the specific addresses of the 6,495 properties that the contract sought to serve. This clarity gave us the confidence to offer our Gigabit fibre broadband service to every single property in the tender.”
Mark Aveline, Chedworth Broadband Champion said: “This is great news because for four long years rural Cotswolds communities have been waiting for fast broadband. What Gigaclear will provide is the best possible solution of fibre to the homes in the final 10 percent not served by existing rollouts.
“The new service will be the envy of all and provide a major boost for the rural community. Congratulations to Fastershire for the innovative contract which encouraged lateral thinking among suppliers and to Gigaclear for their financial investment and commitment to what will surely be a showcase service.”