Broadband is now an essential utility, alongside gas, electric and the phone line. The Internet is the gateway to many services, and more and more people in East Hampshire are home-workers.
I support the government's Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme, which is spending £1.7 billion on rolling out superfast broadband, with 40,000 premises being wired up every week. This investment aims to provide 95% of the UK with access by 2017. In East Hampshire, 15,370 more premises will have superfast connections by 2017.
However, whilst access for the 95% is an admirable target, this is obviously of little comfort to the remaining 5% who are largely in the hardest to reach and most rural areas. With this in mind, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is working with the private sector to develop solutions for the so-called 'final 5%'. Hampshire has benefited from this combined effort with Call Flow Solutions, a telecommunications service provider, being awarded £1.2 million of government funding to develop hybrid superfast technology solutions for some of the remotest areas. These pilots are covering over 1,500 homes in the region, including in Ropley and West Tisted.
The Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Sajid Javid, and I visited one of these technology pilots at West Tisted Manor Estate. It is here that Call Flow are trialling innovative techniques and fibre tubing to bring superfast to residents.
For regular updates on when superfast broadband is coming to you, or if you do not currently have superfast broadband, register your interest here. The more people who sign up, the more likely that broadband will come more quickly to the area.
See the Hampshire Superfast Broadband website for other useful information, such as a list of tips to improve your current speed, or how to support the programme by becoming a Digital Champion.
Plus, have you checked you are getting the best deal? The following sites may be able to help:
