News story

8th August 2003

Broadband Bandwagon Rolls On

Click here for more details about the broadband campaign

Northavon MP Steve Webb has welcomed the news that a total of five local telephone exchanges are set to be upgraded for high speed “broadband” internet access by the end of this year. The campaign to upgrade exchanges has been run at a grass roots level by campaigners across South Gloucestershire, including Matt Morgans in Thornbury, Chris Haskins in Winterbourne and Miles Stowey in Wick.

These grassroots campaigns have been complemented by high-level meetings between Steve Webb MP and BT managers who the MP has pressed to speed up the process of enabling new exchanges. As a result of these combined efforts, hundreds of local people have registered their interest in Broadband, and now five local exchanges are to be upgraded. These are:

* Thornbury on 3rd September;
* Abson (serving Wick/Pucklechurch) on 15th October;
* Winterbourne (also serving Frampton Cotterell) on 15th October;
* Wickwar on 19th November;
* Pilning (also serving Severn Beach) - date to be announced shortly.

From these dates, local residents will be able to select a supplier of broadband internet services and will be able to send and receive web pages, download music etc. at speeds around ten times faster than traditional dial-up connections. Most residents served by these exchanges will be able to benefit, although those living more than 5km from the exchange may be too far away.

Commenting, Steve Webb MP said:

“I am absolutely delighted that the campaign to get local telephone exchanges upgraded for broadband has accelerated so rapidly in recent months. A year ago it was a struggle even to get BT to set targets for individual exchanges. Now, no fewer than five local exchanges are to be enabled which is a tremendous tribute to the community campaigners who have raised the profile of this issue.

"Access to broadband will make it  easier for more people to use the Internet for leisure, study or working at home and I very much welcome this step forward. I will continue to work to extend the coverage of broadband to the remainder of my constituency and will also press for reductions in the cost of this important service.”