A new report has confirmed that Nottinghamshire is amongst the best places in the country for superfast broadband. Councillor Kay Cutts MBE, Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, has welcomed the broadbandchoices.co.uk study, which found that residents and businesses in the county have the second highest download speeds in the country. She says the availability of good quality, superfast broadband remains key if job creation and economic growth ambitions are to be realised. Using the latest OFCOM data compiled by the County Councils Network, the new report shows that the average download speed in Nottinghamshire is 54.4Mbps, compared to an average for English counties of 37.65 Mbps and overall national average of 43.6Mbps.
Compared to other English counties, on average, only residents in Hertfordshire can perform tasks like downloading documents, music and video or stream Netflix TV faster than people living in Nottinghamshire.
Meanwhile, thinkbroadband.com – which compares the availability of superfast broadband in every district, county and region of the UK – shows that people living in Nottinghamshire are more likely to be able to access superfast broadband than in any other shire county in the country. A total of 97.68% of homes and businesses in Nottinghamshire are currently able to access superfast broadband speeds (30 Mbps or quicker), compared to an East Midlands average of 97.06% and UK average of 95.46%. Superfast broadband availability in the Nottinghamshire districts of Mansfield (99.57%) and Broxtowe (99.39%) is better than in most UK cities, including Nottingham (98.9%), Manchester (95.28%), Leeds (97.02%) and Birmingham (96.77%).
The Better Broadband for Nottinghamshire (BBfN) programme, led by Nottinghamshire County Council, has invested more than £30 million in the county’s digital infrastructure since 2014, providing superfast broadband access to over 80,000 homes and businesses across the county.
Phase three of the programme, which is currently being delivered, is using full fibre technology at more than 3,000 properties in rural parts of Bassetlaw and Newark & Sherwood, providing ultrafast download speeds of up to 330 Mbps – meaning residents and businesses can download a two hour HD film in 90 seconds, a 45 minute HD TV show in 16 seconds, or a nine hour audio book in three seconds. Councillor Cutts said: “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.
“Over the last five years, Nottinghamshire County Council and its partners have invested £30m in improving the county’s digital infrastructure which, it is estimated, will generate more than £300m for our economy and create 5,800 jobs by 2030. “The availability of good quality, superfast broadband remains a key driver for our job creation and economic growth ambitions. Continued investment by both the County Council and the private sector in Nottinghamshire’s digital infrastructure, including new ultrafast broadband, is keeping us ahead of the rest and in pole position to attract more inward investment.”
Openreach announced in November that Nottinghamshire was to be the first place in the East Midlands to be included in their ‘Fibre First’ programme, where fibre optic cables take reliable, ultrafast broadband right to people’s front doors. As well as adding even more reliability and resilience to broadband connections and making them less likely to drop out, FTTP offers speeds of up to 1 Gbps – about 24 times faster than the current UK average of 46Mbps.