Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, has welcomed the announcement that over 1 million homes and businesses in the UK now have access to superfast broadband.
In 2010, less than half of UK premises had access to superfast broadband. Since the last general election, the Government has invested £1.7 billion into extending networks throughout the country.
Around 78 percent of the UK now has access to superfast broadband and this figure will rise to 95 percent by 2017.
Gavin has been campaigning for superfast broadband to be made available to homes and businesses across South Staffordshire.
BT recently confirmed to him that fibre optic broadband – already available in large swathes of Codsall, Himley and Great Wyrley - will shortly reach thousands of more homes in the area via the Superfast Staffordshire BDUK project.
The cutting edge broadband will come online in Pattingham, Brewood, Shareshill and some parts of Featherstone, this year. Kinver, Enville and Trysull will receive fibre optic coverage in 2015.
Wombourne is currently being upgraded, with more than 6,000 premises expected to obtain the new fibre product in the coming months. Infrastructure work is also ongoing in Codsall, where a further 4,600 premises will benefit from the rollout.
The few areas that are not currently set to receive fibre optic broadband, which include Halfpenny Green and parts of Essington, have been given a guarantee that they will receive at least 2mbps by 2016. Nationally, a further £10 million has been committed to pilot projects to explore how the final five percent of premises can be brought up to speed.
Gavin said: “Broadband plays an incredibly important role in many people’s lives. Many residents rely upon it to do everything from their daily shopping through to making payments via online banking or watching their Smart TV.
“Superfast broadband is also an essential tool for many businesses and is an important facility if you are looking to attract investment into an area. I am delighted that the majority of South Staffordshire will be covered by superfast broadband by 2016 and will continue to fight to see that every premises has access to this service.”
The current roll-out is expected to provide a £1.5 billion boost to local economies. By 2024, the Government’s current investments in faster broadband will be boosting rural economies by £275 million every month or around £9 million every day.
Overall, the Superfast Broadband Programme will deliver returns of up to £20 for every £1 invested, promoting local growth and representing tremendous value for money.
Forty three projects across the regions targeted by Government are now ‘live’ and around 40,000 premises are gaining access every week, double the number being reached in the spring.
Current UK coverage of superfast broadband is the highest of the top five European economies and the country also leads its European counterparts in terms of take up, competitiveness and pricing.