EIGHT CORNISH VILLAGES will benefit from a multi-million pound project to boost broadband speeds in the most rural parts of the county.
The villages - Chiverton Cross, Leedstown, St Agnes, Portreath, St Day, Devoran, Stenalees and Par - will get speeds of up to 100mb by the end of March according to a report on the Press Association website. The PA added that around 10,000 homes and businesses are likely to get fast broadband access.
The rollout is the work of a local development firm and British Telecom (BT), and will see Cornwall's most rural areas get an injection of fibre optic network infrastructure before their more urban neighbours. We don't know what they will do with it, and we probably don't want to know.
Director of next generation broadband for Cornwall Development Company, Nigel Ashcroft said, "This is an incredibly innovative and pioneering project never before done on this scale."
BT's South West regional director Jon Reynolds added, "It is excellent news that the first Cornish businesses and homes will have access to super-fast broadband at such an early stage."
BT was on hand to do more than just pat itself on the back. The telecoms firm has looked down the back of its sofa and come up with some pennies to support the rollout.
In fact BT has contributed £78.5 million to the programme, while £53.5 million has come from the European Regional Development Fund Convergence programme. µ
