Rochdale borough set to be one of the best connected in the UK

Anthony Gaffey – Broadband Delivery UK Greater Manchester project co-ordinator, Councillor Peter Williams - Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Employment at Rochdale Borough Council, Garry Rooney - Senior Project Manager at Broadband Delivery UK Greater Manchester and Tony Morgan - Contract Director for Next Generation Access, BT Group

Almost one hundred per cent of properties in the Rochdale area are set to be able to access superfast broadband by mid-2017, making it one of the most connected boroughs in the whole of the UK.

Around 99.6 per cent of the borough is likely to benefit from the £15 million Get Digital Faster programme, launched in June last year. The scheme sees the council work with BT and other local authorities to boost connectivity for businesses and households across Greater Manchester by installing new fibre broadband street cabinets to expand the availability of superfast broadband.

Building on existing roadside cabinets from commercial network providers, Rochdale now has 20 live cabinets under the Get Digital Faster programme, serving almost 1500 further properties. By the end of the programme in March 2017, Rochdale is expected to have 52 new cabinets in addition to the existing commercial coverage, which will give even more residents and businesses download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.

Councillor Peter Williams, Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Employment at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “In this online age, having access to superfast broadband is vitally important for both residents and businesses. It is also a key driver for economic growth. It’s fantastic to hear that Rochdale will be one of the most connected boroughs in the UK. This will give our local businesses the competitive edge and enable them to grow and create vital jobs and opportunities which will benefit the whole borough.”

Tony Morgan, BT’s Get Digital Faster programme director, said: “This is a great example of the public and private sector working together to ensure real community benefit. BT is delighted to be working with Rochdale on a project that will bring more of the online world closer, for both residents and business.”

The Get Digital Faster programme is funded by the North West European Regional Development Fund with £4.9 million, BT has contributed £4.6 million, the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) initiative has given a further £3 million, while local councils (Rochdale, Bury, Stockport, Bolton, Trafford, Oldham, Tameside and Wigan) have put £2.5 million into the scheme. The programme is being project managed by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and BT on behalf of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
Fibre broadband is projected to boost Greater Manchester’s economy by some £80 million and create around 500 new jobs according to an economic study. The programme also links into a Business Growth Hub which, along with local councils, will provide businesses with the skills and expertise to make the most of the opportunities a sophisticated broadband network will provide.

Work on the Get Digital Faster project is well under way across the region. Engineers from BT’s local network business, Openreach, are laying around 400 kilometres of optical fibre cable – the equivalent of twice around the Greater Manchester boundary - and installing a total of around 500 new fibre broadband cabinets throughout the area. It is estimated that 150 people involved in delivery will complete more than 500,000 staff hours of work planning and building the network during the lifetime of the project.

To take full advantage of the new scheme, businesses may need to upgrade their current broadband connection using a choice of fibre broadband providers. Grants of up to £3,000 are available to help with the cost of this. The money is available on a first come-first served basis and businesses are advised to visit www.rochdale.gov.uk/business at the earliest opportunity to find out more.

Residents or businesses who want to find out more about the Get Digital Faster programme can visit www.get-digital-faster.info