Phase two moves into gear

The first phase of the multi million pound Digital Durham partnership has been completed successfully with more than 107,000 households and businesses now able to access faster fibre-based broadband as a direct result of the programme.

Work is already well underway on the second phase of the rollout which started in July 2016. The additional £9 million investment will bring superfast speeds within reach of a further 29,000 homes and businesses across the Digital Durham programme area by December 2018. Digital Durham is delivered in partnership by Durham County Council and BT.

Across the programme area, people living and working in locations such as Middleton-in-Teesdale, Low Fell, Stanley, North Shields, South Shields, Wideopen, Lanchester, Benton, Stillington, Wellfield and Boldon will soon be enjoying the benefits of faster broadband.

Cllr Jane Brown, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for corporate services, said: “The completion of phase one, providing faster broadband to more than 107,000 homes and businesses is a major milestone in our partnership with BT.

“It’s a real source of pride that so many people can now use this technology for work, study and pleasure.

“But we’re not resting on our laurels. This further investment through phase two will ensure faster broadband is available to even more people and we’ll consider whether we can further improve coverage beyond this.”

The second phase of the roll-out will see engineers from Openreach, BT’s local network business, reaching some of the more challenging and rural locations in County Durham, Gateshead and the Tees Valley and, for the first time, the programme will move into South and North Tyneside.

Check if you can upgrade to fibre-based broadband on the Openreach site.

Digital Durham achieves major milestone

Pictured are (behind): Simon Roverson of BT, Phil Jackman, Head of ICT for Durham County Council, and Derek Richardson, NGA Project Manager. Pictured in front, from St. John's Chapel Primary School are Mrs. Sue Shaw, Lily Bousfield, Rowan Grieves-Bubb, George Jamieson, Kersha Cottrill, Jack Heslop, Dylan Scott , Amelia Pagan-Lever and Mrs. Anne Oliphant. — Pictured are (behind): Simon Roverson of BT, Phil Jackman, Head of ICT for Durham County Council, and Derek Richardson, NGA Project Manager. Pictured in front, from St. John’s Chapel Primary School are Mrs. Sue Shaw, Lily Bousfield, Rowan Grieves-Bubb, George Jamieson, Kersha Cottrill, Jack Heslop, Dylan Scott , Amelia Pagan-Lever and Mrs. Anne Oliphant.

Digital Durham today announced it has achieved a major milestone in its rollout of fibre-based broadband as St John’s Chapel in Weardale became the latest community to ‘go live’ with the high-speed technology.

More than 100,000 premises across the programme area now have access to fibre-based broadband as a direct result of the partnership. Engineers from Openreach, BT’s local network business, have laid thousands more kilometres of underground, fibre-optic cable and installed 447 green fibre street cabinets.

The 100,000th premises was one of more than 200 homes and businesses in the rural village of St John’s Chapel to get access to the technology. Parts of Barnard Castle, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Eggleston, Gateshead and Thornaby have also been upgraded in recent weeks.

Pat Glass, MP for North West Durham, said: “I am delighted that the Digital Durham programme has reached its 100,000 premises milestone. I continue to fully support their programme as they make progress towards giving as many constituents of mine as possible access to fast broadband.”

Thousands of orders for the newly available superfast service have already been placed since the beginning of this year and demand continues to grow as more and more local people opt for the fibre optic technology, which can see their speeds increase to up to 80Mbps1. Orders can be placed with any company offering fibre-based products on the Openreach network.

Cllr Jane Brown, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for corporate services, said: “It is really pleasing to see the programme making this positive progress and that hundreds of homes and businesses are signing up to use this exciting technology every month.

“The fact that we have brought fibre-based broadband to communities as far afield as Ryton in the north, Darlington in the south, Westgate in the west and Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the east of the programme area helps demonstrate the scale and breadth of the roll-out.”

Janice Stobbs, head teacher at St John’s Chapel Primary School, said: “Use of the internet now touches every part of the curriculum, with pupils using it every day for everything from interactive exercises to doing online research for school projects and a variety of other schoolwork. Without fast connectivity and speeds there is the risk that children will miss out on what is now an essential learning tool, so having fibre in St John’s Chapel is great news.”

Simon Roberson, BT’s regional partnership director for the North East, said: “To have reached 100,000 homes and businesses in just over two years is a huge achievement and one that the Digital Durham team should be proud of.

“The true measure of success, however, will be the benefits that communities across the programme reap from using this technology so it’s encouraging to see the vast number of local residents and businesses taking advantage of what is now on offer to them.

“Access to this technology can play a major role in building the competitiveness of local businesses and offer new education, social and entertainment opportunities for residents. And with plenty of choice of suppliers and pricing, I would urge even more local people to take advantage and get connected.”

Fibre-based broadband at home means everyone in the family can do their own thing online, all at the same time, whether it’s downloading music in minutes or watching catch-up TV; streaming HD or 3D movies in a few minutes; or posting photos and videos to social networking sites in seconds. Superfast broadband improves the quality of online experiences and supports new developments in internet services.

Benefits for businesses include faster file and data transfers, better access to cloud computing services and software, more sophisticated web-based contact with customers and support for more flexible working.

It’s an ‘opt in’ service, but because the Openreach network is ‘open’, residents and businesses wanting to upgrade have a choice of fibre broadband providers, with more than 140 companies now operating across the UK.

The Digital Durham broadband programme is delivered by Durham County Council and BT. In total, £34 million has been invested by BT, Durham County Council, Government funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and public sector partners in Sunderland, South Tyneside, Gateshead, North Tyneside, Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.

A second phase of fibre deployment is already planned to begin in July 2016. This involves a £9 million investment in the programme area. It includes £2.82 million from the Government’s Superfast Extension Plan and £4 million from BT, with the remaining investment split between the local authority partners. An additional 29,000 homes and businesses will benefit as a result. By the end of the roll-out, 97 per cent of premises within the programme area will have access to fibre-based broadband.

Hi- Tech ‘onesie’ brings faster broadband to Shincliffe Village first

Pioneering communications technology is being used to bring faster broadband to a picturesque village in County Durham

Around 180 homes and businesses in Shincliffe Village are now able to enjoy some of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK following the switching on of an innovative ‘all-in-one’ fibre broadband cabinet. Normally two cabinets are needed to bring fibre broadband to an area – the existing road-side cabinet that supplies telephone services and a new one for the fibre technology. By combining all the technology into the ‘onesie’ cabinet the amount of street furniture is reduced – ideal in certain areas of natural beauty, where there are conservation restrictions as well as to overcome certain technical issues.

Cllr Jane Brown, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for corporate services, welcomed the news.

She said: “This is fantastic news for residents and business owners in Shincliffe Village who will now be able to take advantage of faster internet speeds and all the benefits this brings both at home and in the workplace.

“It is also pleasing to see that the village is benefitting from a relatively new technology specifically developed to bring faster broadband to locations where the standard roll-out methods are not suitable. We look forward to seeing this technology used in other areas where possible.”

One resident looking forward to getting online superfast is Daniel Roe, who runs his company Concision.co.uk, writing and editing web content, sales materials and articles for businesses, from his home in the village.

Daniel, who launched the family run start-up in June last year, said that knowing fibre was coming to Shincliffe Village was a significant factor in deciding to move to the area.

He said: “We decided to move to Shincliffe Village only after we realised there was going to be fibre broadband available. Having fibre will make a huge difference to the business. We have clients all over the world so our primary contact with them is online. We rely on VoIP services like Skype to communicate with them. We also use online multi-media presentations to show them work we are doing or to pitch to new clients – at the moment we struggle to do it over our current broadband. We also need fast access to online material that we are constantly researching and reviewing for customers.

“It will make us a lot more flexible and agile and able to respond a lot quicker, which means quicker turnarounds on projects which in turn means more satisfied clients and ultimately more business.”

Thousands of homes and businesses in the nearby communities of High Shincliffe, Bowburn and Coxhoe have also been connected to the fibre network, with further upgrades planned in the coming months due to the huge demand for fibre services.

More than 95,000 households and businesses are now able to connect to faster, fibre broadband thanks to the Digital Durham programme. On average, engineers from Openreach, BT’s local network business, are switching on 22 new street cabinets and making the new fibre network available to around 4,700 more premises every month.

Simon Roberson, BT regional partnership director for the North East, said: “Rolling out fibre broadband on this scale is no mean feat. Sometimes we have do things differently in order to overcome technical issues or challenging geographies. This was one of those times. When our primary roll-out solution did not work in this part of Shincliffe Village, we had to identify a different solution. The ‘onesie’ was the perfect solution and people are already embracing the new technology.”

Fibre broadband at home means everyone in the family can do their own thing online, all at the same time, whether it’s downloading music in minutes or watching catch-up TV; streaming HD or 3D movies in a few minutes; or posting photos and videos to social networking sites in seconds. Fibre improves the quality of online experiences and supports new developments in internet services.
Benefits for businesses include faster file and data transfers, better access to cloud computing services and software, more sophisticated web-based contact with customers and support for more flexible working.

The Digital Durham broadband programme is delivered by Durham County Council and BT. In total, £34 million has been invested by BT, Durham County Council, Government funding from Building Digital UK (BDUK) and public sector partners in Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and the Tees Valley.

A second phase of fibre deployment is already planned to begin in July 2016. This will see a further £9 million invested in the programme area. It includes £2.82 million from the Government’s Superfast Extension Plan and £4 million from BT, with the remaining investment split between the local authority partners. An additional 29,000 homes and businesses will benefit as a result. By the end of the roll-out, 97 per cent of premises within the programme area will have access to fibre broadband.

For more information about the Digital Durham programme please visit www.digitaldurham.org