Speedy internet access for Rotherham homes and businesses

The switch-on of six new fibre broadband street cabinets under the Superfast South Yorkshire project brings the new technology in reach of a further 450 homes and businesses across the borough.

Council leader Chris Read said: “Investment in superfast broadband will open up a huge range of opportunities for local businesses, communities and individuals across Rotherham.

“Superfast broadband is essential if we are to compete in today’s world and, without this kind of investment, Rotherham will fall behind other parts of the country who are already developing this infrastructure.”

In September last year, South Yorkshire councils joined forces with BT in a £22 million deal to extend the availability of high-speed, fibre broadband to around 981 per cent of homes and businesses in the county.

The project was jointly funded by the four South Yorkshire local authorities of Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster, the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) fund and BT.  

The Sheffield City Region Combined Authority agreed this week to take on the four councils’ share of the cost.

The project aims to build on BT’s commercial rollout which has already made fibre broadband  — which allows multiple users in a house or business to use the Internet smoothly at the same time  — available to more than 451,000 homes and businesses across South Yorkshire. It aims to achieve 97.9 per cent broadband coverage across South Yorkshire by the end of 2017.

For further information on the Superfast South Yorkshire programme visit http://www.superfastsouthyorkshire.co.uk