On 5 August Oxfordshire County Council awarded a contract to BT to bring superfast broadband to much of rural Oxfordshire. Cllr Paul Wilding reports.
The program will see a total of £25m invested in updating the county's broadband network. Although BT are still planning which parts will be upgraded, early indications are that the whole of Eynsham will be included, which will mean a much improved service for anyone accessing broadband through their phone line.
Superfast broadband is defined as a speed of more than 24 megabits per second (Mbps). This should be fast enough for video streaming, high quality photo sharing, fast download of large files and video conferencing applications such as Skype.
The network upgrade does not guarantee that everyone can achieve this speed, as other factors affect performance, including your distance from the exchange, the speed of your computer and whether you share the connection with other devices (e.g. smart phones or games consoles).
BT are expected to finalise the project plan by December 2013. It is anticipated that work will commence in January 2014 and continue for two years.