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The Herefordshire Partnership team, responsible for the Herefordshire In Touch (HiT) Programme, has reported a resounding success for the “We Want Broadband” campaign.
The aim of “We Want Broadband” was to encourage the people of Herefordshire to let suppliers know that they want Broadband to be made available in their area. It was hoped that a successful campaign would persuade suppliers to start providing Broadband to the County.
Since its launch in January of this year, nearly 5,000 Herefordshire residents have registered their support for the campaign. And now, with BT’s recent announcement that they will begin rolling-out services in Herefordshire this December, Broadband will be coming to the County years ahead of schedule.
In addition to registering interest on the “We Want Broadband” Website, the campaign encouraged people to take part in other registration schemes operating in the area, notably BT’s exchange trigger programme. It was this approach that lead to the recent breakthrough.
BT carefully monitors demand for Broadband in each exchange and uses this to predict when there will be sufficient demand for Broadband in a given area. At the beginning of 2004, their predictions were that registrations would tail off and that most exchanges would not require upgrading until August 2007 with some as late as 2012.
In the first four months of the “We Want Broadband” campaign, instead of reducing, registrations went up by 56%. BT’s revised projections showed that on average, Herefordshire exchanges required upgrading two years earlier, in late 2005.
Clearly, there is high demand for Broadband in Herefordshire and BT has now responded to this fact by announcing an exchange upgrade programme that will see more than 90% of our exchanges Broadband enabled within a year.
Frank Mills, BT’s West Midlands regional director, said: "The broadband project ‘Herefordshire in Touch’ and local campaigners have made a phenomenal difference in Herefordshire. These local initiatives have helped change the market which in turn has contributed to our decision to enable, by July 2005, all exchanges which had a trigger level set."
The Herefordshire Partnership Broadband team will now focus its efforts on bringing Broadband to areas that remain out of reach and are interested to hear from anyone in this situation.
Details of the Broadband rollout can be found on www.wewantbroadband.org
WE WANT BROADBAND EXCEEDS ALL EXPECTATION
The Herefordshire Partnership team, responsible for the Herefordshire In Touch (HiT) Programme, has reported a resounding success for the “We Want Broadband” campaign.
The aim of “We Want Broadband” was to encourage the people of Herefordshire to let suppliers know that they want Broadband to be made available in their area. It was hoped that a successful campaign would persuade suppliers to start providing Broadband to the County.
Since its launch in January of this year, nearly 5,000 Herefordshire residents have registered their support for the campaign. And now, with BT’s recent announcement that they will begin rolling-out services in Herefordshire this December, Broadband will be coming to the County years ahead of schedule.
In addition to registering interest on the “We Want Broadband” Website, the campaign encouraged people to take part in other registration schemes operating in the area, notably BT’s exchange trigger programme. It was this approach that lead to the recent breakthrough.
BT carefully monitors demand for Broadband in each exchange and uses this to predict when there will be sufficient demand for Broadband in a given area. At the beginning of 2004, their predictions were that registrations would tail off and that most exchanges would not require upgrading until August 2007 with some as late as 2012.
In the first four months of the “We Want Broadband” campaign, instead of reducing, registrations went up by 56%. BT’s revised projections showed that on average, Herefordshire exchanges required upgrading two years earlier, in late 2005.
Clearly, there is high demand for Broadband in Herefordshire and BT has now responded to this fact by announcing an exchange upgrade programme that will see more than 90% of our exchanges Broadband enabled within a year.
Frank Mills, BT’s West Midlands regional director, said: "The broadband project ‘Herefordshire in Touch’ and local campaigners have made a phenomenal difference in Herefordshire. These local initiatives have helped change the market which in turn has contributed to our decision to enable, by July 2005, all exchanges which had a trigger level set."
The Herefordshire Partnership Broadband team will now focus its efforts on bringing Broadband to areas that remain out of reach and are interested to hear from anyone in this situation.
Details of the Broadband rollout can be found on www.wewantbroadband.org