Pioneering communications technology is being used for the first time in North Yorkshire to bring faster broadband to the village of Aysgarth.
Around 100 households and businesses in Aysgarth are now able to enjoy some of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK following the switching on of North Yorkshire’s first ‘all-in-one’ fibre broadband cabinet.
Normally, two cabinets are needed to bring fibre broadband to an area - the existing road-side cabinet 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 and to overcome certain technical issues.
To celebrate the arrival of the new technology, Rishi Sunak, MP for Richmond, joined Charlotte Madley, an Askrigg Primary School pupil who recently won a competition to design a poster for the next Superfast North Yorkshire advertising campaign, at the new Aysgarth cabinet.
Charlotte, aged nine, was chosen from 12 shortlisted entries as her design best depicted the brief ‘what does the internet look like?’ and ‘why is a good internet connection at home important?’ Posters showing her design will be taking pride of place at locations throughout North Yorkshire in the coming weeks.
Rishi said: “I was delighted to help launch the new superfast service in Aysgarth. High quality broadband is now an essential for families and businesses and Superfast North Yorkshire is helping to make sure that rural areas are not disadvantaged compared with urban areas.”
Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said: “It’s great to see new and innovative technology being used to support the fibre roll-out in North Yorkshire. This ‘onesie’ is the first of around 120 we expect to see popping up in communities across the county which is certainly going to be great news for those people living and working in them.”
More than 42,000 households and businesses across Richmondshire are now able to connect to faster, fibre broadband thanks to the Superfast North Yorkshire programme. People living and working in dozens of towns and villages including Hawes, Reeth, Gunnerside, Leyburn and West Burton, can already place orders and further upgrades are planned in locations, such as Thornton Rust and Carperby.
Tom Keeney, BT regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Rolling out fibre broadband on this scale is no mean feat and occasionally we have to do things differently in order to overcome technical issues, challenging geographies or to simply reduce the impact of the modern world in conservation areas. This was one of those times. The ‘onesie’ has proved to be the perfect solution and people in the village are already embracing the new technology.”
Following the completion of phase one of the roll-out in Spring 2015, work on the second phase is now well underway. By mid-2017 a further 15,000 households and businesses will be able to access high speed fibre broadband services. Superfast North Yorkshire is exploring options for a third phase.
