Residents of one of Dorset’s oldest villages were today celebrating a leap into the future – and a major milestone for the multi million pound Superfast Dorset project.
Superfast Dorset’s 100th fibre broadband cabinet to ‘go live’ is in Martinstown, an historic community mentioned in the Domesday Book, which has a church dating from the 12th century. The new cabinet, located on the B3159, has made the high-speed technology available to more than 300 Martinstown homes and businesses.
The £31.75 million Superfast Dorset programme has so far rolled out its fibre network to include locations such as Bridport, Charmouth, Puddletown, Broadmayne, Upwey and business parks at Ferndown, Verwood and Gore Cross, Bradpole.
The programme is led by the county council, working in partnership with BT and the Government body BDUK and with financial contributions and support from West Dorset, East Dorset, North Dorset and Purbeck District Councils and Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and Weymouth Borough Councils.
State of Mind Media, a digital media company based in Martinstown, was one of the first in the village to place an order for fibre broadband. Owner Shawn Keys said: “Fibre broadband will make a fundamental difference to our business as we are an internet based business. In order to compete with rivals we need to be able to match their resources. We will be able to reach customers globally and also benefit from employing freelancers.”
Paul Coles, BT’s South West regional manager, said: “The installation of Superfast Dorset’s 100th fibre broadband cabinet demonstrates the strong progress being achieved by the partnership. More than 270,000 households and businesses in Dorset now have access to fibre broadband when BT’s own commercial rollout of the high-speed technology is also included.
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