Erbistock village to get superfast broadband by October

  • September 6, 2010

Residents and businesses in Erbistock in Wales will get access to 40Mbps, fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband by the end of October as the the local internet service provider, Rutland Telecom is set to extend its fibre optic network to bring superfast broadband to the 80 homes in the village.

The £50,000 project will be funded by the broadband support scheme launched by the Welsh Assembly Government for those who live in ‘notspots’. The scheme will offer up to £1,000 to a household or business to get a broadband connection.

Erbistock is one of the rural ‘notspots’ in Wales and is connected to BT’s copper network via Bangor-on-Dee exchange. However, the distance from the exchange has been a problem for the villagers to get broadband so far.

“We can’t get broadband in Erbistock because we’re too far away from the BT exchange.” a resident told the BBC News.

BT came forward to upgrade the existing copper network but that would cost over £0.5m and the local community has to fund the cost, the villagers were told.

Broadband rural notspots in Wales

However, Rutland Telecom is set to bring fibre based broadband to the village for just £50,000 and the project is expected to be completed by October. “This is now the first Welsh notspot area to receive broadband using this method.” David Lewis, Managing Director of Rutland Telecom said.

BT maintained that it would involve huge costs to cover the distance from the exchange. However, the ISP said it would still look for alternative solutions to provide broadband connectivity to Erbistock.