Superfast Cornwall

Cornwall leads the UK in superfast broadband connectivity.

17:54 09 October 2019

Cornwall is leading the UK in terms of superfast broadband connectivity – thanks to the EU-funded scheme, an estimated 24,700 local businesses now have access to the service which gives the Cornish economy a £154.6million boost.

 

The rest of the UK now aims to emulate Cornwall’s success and takes steps that could see rural communities in the country enjoy internet speeds that are more than 10 times faster than in the centre of London.

 

Clive Selley, chief executive Openreach, said: "Cornwall very much is the poster boy for superfast broadband.

 

"The Duchy has 37% of businesses connected to fibre-to-the-premises broadband when the national take up is just 8%. There are still 63% of premises that need to be connected so our roll-out will certainly continue, but we are taking the processes that have been pioneered in Cornwall and taking them out to the rest of the country.

 

"If we can power businesses, we know it will create jobs and wealth. It’s a virtuous circle."

 

Mr Selley said that although the process of bringing fibre infrastructure to rural areas has been challenging, Openreach wants to replicate Cornwall’s success in other parts of the UK due to its positive impact on the local economy.

 

Operations director Ben Parker said superfast broadband has transformed the way the business operates and has opened new business opportunities.

 

He said: "Although 4G delivered superfast speeds, the service was capped. This was inconvenient and it hampered what we could do. As a result, we put several plans on ice and could not develop the business operations in the way we ideally wanted to.

 

"Now we have a Fibre to the Premises connection, we can rely on an unlimited fast connection. This brings a great number of benefits to the business. It is so much easier to upload high resolution photos and videos to our website and social media channels. Marketing is at the heart of our business and now we can really make the most of the internet to reach out to customers.

 

"Everyday emailing, internet banking and online research is also so much faster and this all adds up, saving us time and increasing productivity."