Superfast broadband for Castle Quarter
SHOPS and businesses in Cardiff’s Castle Quarter will be able to benefit from superfast broadband thanks to a partnership between the Cardiff Business Improvement District (BID) and BT.
Some of the fastest broadband in the country will be available to more than 200 businesses in the area as a result of the new Community Fibre Partnership deal.
Cardiff BID, which represents local businesses in the city centre, approached BT after it became clear that the Castle Quarter was not part of any current private or public sector superfast fibre broadband roll-out plans.
Adrian Field, executive director for Cardiff BID, said: “Upgrading the broadband capabilities of the Castle Quarter will have a tangible impact on businesses in the area, enabling them to operate the way you would expect from a business in the capital city, thereby helping Cardiff retain businesses and, indeed, attract new ones.”
Download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second (Mbps) will be available to businesses in the Castle Quarter, enabling them to do more online and create new opportunities and fresh ways of connecting with customers.
The project involves funding from Cardiff BID and Openreach, BT’s local network business. The funding will pay for the extensive engineering work required to make superfast broadband available in the Castle Quarter. Openreach plans to install fibre-to-thecabinet (FTTC) technology, with work due to start soon and be finished early next year.
Alwen Williams, regional director for BT Cymru Wales, said: “We know the positive impact faster broadband has on the productivity and competiveness of business and it’s great to be able to work together with Cardiff BID to find a fibre broadband solution.”
The Openreach network offers fibre broadband access to service providers on an open, wholesale basis, so businesses have a choice of many different services from a wide range of service providers nationwide.
Kim Mears, Openreach’s managing director for infrastructure delivery, said: “Partnerships like this help us to bring high-speed connections to challenging areas that the private sector would have difficulty reaching alone.
“We are committed to making fibre broadband as widely available as possible in the UK. That’s why we’re investing in hundreds of similar projects across the UK, working in partnership with business and residential communities to deliver faster speeds from a wide choice of competing internet service providers.”
Ms Mears added: “I have no doubt that businesses located in Cardiff ’s Castle Quarter will see real benefits thanks to the faster connectivity and variety of services we’re delivering.”