Council leader proud that county leads the way in superfast broadband growth

It is official, Nottinghamshire is amongst the best places in the country for speed and access to superfast broadband, writes Coun Kay Cutts.
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And this has not come about by accident.

Over the last few years, the council and its partners has invested more than £30 million in upgrading the county’s digital infrastructure, providing superfast broadband access to 80,000 homes and businesses not covered by the commercial providers.

Independent estimates say this will generate more than £300 million and create 5,800 jobs by 2030.

Coun Kay Cutts, Nottinghamshire County Council leaderCoun Kay Cutts, Nottinghamshire County Council leader
Coun Kay Cutts, Nottinghamshire County Council leader
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In fact, if you live in the Mansfield or Broxtowe districts, you are more likely to be able to access superfast broadband than if you live in most major UK cities, including Nottingham, Manchester and Birmingham.

And the council is not stopping there.

In rural areas of Bassetlaw and Newark & Sherwood, its programme is continuing, providing the latest ultrafast broadband to 3,000 homes and businesses where there was previously next-to-no broadband and pushing the county ever closer to 100 per cent coverage.

Alongside this, Openreach has selected Nottinghamshire as the first place in the East Midlands to be included in its Fibre City programme, with new fibre-to-the-premises technology, delivering speeds around 24 times faster than the average UK connection.

To deliver this and other initiatives, I was delighted to hear the recent announcement from Openreach that it is recruiting 3,000 new engineers across the UK, including 40 here in Nottinghamshire.

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The internet has revolutionised the way we do business, keep in contact with friends, use services, access entertainment and store data.

Having fast, reliable broadband is now viewed on a par with access to a water, gas and electricity supply.

I am proud that Nottinghamshire continues to lead the way.