Right on time
Around 1,000 homes and businesses in Cornwall have now been hooked up to super-fast broadband as the £132m scheme is on track so far.
While 50 Cornish customers have already signed up in the Chiverton Cross and Chacewater areas, superfast broadband is expected to go live in St Agnes, St Day, Portreath, Devoran, Leedstown, Stenalees and Par within 'a few days' to offer the speedy service to another 14,000 customers, according to BT.
The roll-out is part of a pilot scheme running before the main programme, which will focus on South East Cornwall.
BT said that its Openreach engineers have installed 150km of optical fibre cable, equivalent to more than the length of Cornwall just 6 months after signing the contract for the Superfast Cornwall initiative, which is managed by Cornwall Development Company.
By 2014 the programme, funded by BT to the tune of £78.5m and the European Regional Development Fund Convergence programme to £53.5m, is expected to have delivered super-fast fibre broadband to at least 80 percent of households and businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Customers using the new service can expect to download a music track in 2 seconds, a whole album in 30 seconds and HD film in 10 minutes with upload speeds among the fastest in the UK, according to BT.
Carolyn Rule, Cornwall Council cabinet member for economy and regeneration, said: "The Superfast Cornwall programme is certainly living up to its name. We are very pleased with its progress and the fact that this key milestone in the programme has been reached right on schedule. Super-fast broadband is already available to the first customers about six months after the scheme was first announced. It is a great achievement."
While most premises in the eight pilot areas will be able to access fibre-based broadband immediately, BT warned that a minority will not be able to do so. The firm said that those that miss out initially will get faster speeds via wireless, satellite broadband or advanced copper technologies, or an extension to the fibre network, in future.
