This builds on the firm foundations established by Buckinghamshire County Council and Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP) in the delivery of the first phase of the programme, which saw broadband coverage extend to 90% of premises (more than 45,000 homes and businesses) in Buckinghamshire on schedule and under budget. Phase 2 benefits from further investment by Aylesbury Vale District Council, Wycombe District Council and Chiltern District Council, as well as additional funding by BTVLEP.

Connected Counties’ work providing real benefits to businesses

The Connected Counties Broadband partnership started connecting the first premises in Buckinghamshire to fibre broadband as part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme just over two years ago. Since then, engineers from Openreach, BT’s network business, have installed over 200 new road-side cabinets across Buckinghamshire to facilitate coverage across the county.

The second roll-out of superfast broadband in Buckinghamshire will start in autumn as BT starts surveying and planning, with premises being able to access the service from June 2017 and the completion of this phase by June 2018.

Cholesbury car business goes up a gear thanks to superfast broadband

A car business in Cholesbury has transformed the way it does business thanks to the Connected Counties roll-out of fibre broadband.

Owner of Chiltern Motors, John Minting, placed an order as soon as he discovered the new technology had arrived and now he and his team are enjoying superfast speeds of around 71.2 Mbps download.

John said: “Having fibre broadband has been a massive time saver for us and helps us to run our business much more efficiently.”

The company specialises in the repair and servicing of Land Rover and Volkswagens, which uses an array of specialised diagnostic tools – that need to be regularly updated with the latest software.

“The main benefit to us is now is that MOT testing has gone web based the time it takes us to complete the certificate has significantly reduced.

“We also have diagnostic tools which tell us what is going on inside a vehicle’s engine. These need updating daily or a few times a week and we can’t use them while they’re being updated. Before we had superfast broadband it could take more than 24-hours to update a machine which meant coming in at weekends or working overnight so that machines would be ready to use when we need them. Now we can do it in a matter of hours so it’s something we can do during normal working hours.

Broadband has been delivered to Cholesbury using fibre to the premise (FTTP) technology which provides an end-to-end fibre optic connection the full distance from the exchange to the building and can deliver faster speeds than traditional fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) technology.

To find out if you can order superfast broadband, use the Connected Counties availability checker.

Investment pays off

The three District Councils together with BTVLEP have jointly invested cash of over £2 million to support the project in the next phase of roll-out. It is hoped that up to 11,000 extra homes and business will benefit from superfast broadband.

Michael Garvey, Board Member of Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership and Joint Chairman of the Broadband Project Board, said: “We are delighted with the news that we are about to commence the next phase of the roll-out of broadband across Buckinghamshire. High speed fibre broadband is essential if local businesses are to remain competitive. As one of the most productive economies in the country we want to continue to provide the conditions for businesses to thrive at the beating heart of the national economy.”

Michael added: “High speed broadband is a modern life essential, not a luxury and I’m delighted we’ve made great progress connecting residents and businesses across Buckinghamshire in areas that other providers would otherwise consider uneconomical. I recognise that there’s more work to do to ensure that every resident and business has access and in the true spirit of partnership working I am delighted that our District colleagues are now joining with us to take this forward and build on the investment already provided by Buckinghamshire County Council.”

Superfast broadband provides many economic and social benefits, including job creation, online education, remote health care, support for intelligent transport and mobility and so much more.

Philippa Batting, Managing Director of Buckinghamshire Business First, said: “Buckinghamshire has one the largest concentrations of small businesses in the country, many of whom work from home or are in rural areas so it is essential that we work together to ensure all businesses across the county can benefit from superfast broadband.”

The Connected Counties project is a partnership involving Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire County Councils, Aylesbury Vale, Wycombe and Chiltern District Councils, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnerships, Buckinghamshire Business First and BT.