Village’s internet is saved ... by H&M’s billionaire owner
THE billionaire owner of fashion chain H&M asked staff on his country estate to dig a two-mile trench so he and neighbouring villagers can get superfast internet broadband.
Stefan Persson had shared his neighbours’ frustration over slow internet speeds for residents of Axford in Wiltshire.
They faced waiting more than three years for BT to provide the fibre optic cables needed for the highspeed access to the internet which is vital for watching films and accessing websites quickly.
So Mr Persson, who is understood to be worth £15billion, used staff on his 10,000-acre estate to dig a trench some two miles long across his fields.
It slashes the cost of bringing fibre optic cables to Axford and means villagers should have superfast broadband by spring, instead of waiting until 2021 at the earliest.
The only disappointment has been that while BT Openreach was expected to have completed the work by Christmas it failed to do so, and customers will have to wait a few more months.
H&M was founded by Mr Persson’s father Erling in 1947. Thanks to the huge wealth it generated he has been able to develop his estate which is ideal for hunting, shooting and fishing. But his plans to establish other business ventures there were being stymied by the slow internet speeds.
BT had suggested there were no plans to upgrade the connection to the village before 2021 and villagers would have to collectively find £170,000 to pay for the cables if they wanted it any earlier.
Mr Persson’s estate manager Alistair ‘We Ewing have told got appalling the Daily speed Telegraph: on our broadband. We have got a brewery business, a smokehouse and the farm and everything is done online and it is awful. So we approached BT along with a couple of guys in the village who were pretty proactive and we asked what it would cost to put a system in.’ Told that the bill for getting broadband ahead of schedule would be £170,000, the billionaire took matters into his own hands. Mr Ewing added: ‘We thought OK, we will do all the digging, trenching and laying. We have some social responsibility as a large estate done. and go The attitude, so that villagers it is is what no have good we a get standing have up one with will give your you hand anything.’ out because no It took two weeks to complete the trench. It means cabling can be run from nearby Aldbourne to Axford, slashing £90,000 off the BT bill for installing the cables. Axford resident Nick Swan said the billionaire’s move was ‘very generous’. Parish councillor Diann Barnett said: ‘We will now have broadband and it is all down to him – 77 houses will get it at a cost of about £600 each.’