Ashford sees strong increase in broadband connectivity across the borough

The Ashford borough is becoming more connected than ever, with Ashford experiencing a 44% rise in full-fibre coverage (FTTP) connectivity over the past three years.

This increase is notably higher than the Kent district average of 38% and is also slightly higher than the UK average of 41%, highlighting that Ashford is very much leading the way when it comes to ensuring residents are better connected.

Also, over the past year alone, FTTP in the Ashford borough has increased by 17%, which is mainly down to Openreach and Netomnia undertaking a FTTP rollout across the Ashford urban area.

That rollout saw 18,000 homes and businesses connect to FTTP, while Ashford also boasts a much higher take-up of FTTP (49%) compared to the national average (38%). This means residents who can connect to full-fibre are seeing the benefits by signing up to Fibre Broadband packages.

Ashford Borough Council is supporting this rollout by ensuring council-owned housing can be connected more efficiently. The council has signed flexible wayleaves for its social housing stock with broadband providers, which is enabling 450 households to gain FTTP connections, with another 470 due to be connected in the near future.

What exactly is full-fibre coverage?

Full-fibre coverage uses fibre optic cabling to deliver an internet connection, which provides more stability and speed than the traditional copper wires. This is shown in the speeds, with full-fibre broadband drastically quicker than traditional alternatives.

These fibre-optic cables can give you much faster and stable download and upload speeds – with some reaching up to one gigabit per second.

Project Gigabit to help connect the borough further

In addition, as part of the UK Government’s Project Gigabit scheme, an approximate 6,800 homes and businesses in the Ashford borough will, in the coming years, have access to lightning-fast, gigabit-capable broadband.

Gigabit-capable broadband – such as full-fibre – can provide speeds of over 1,000 megabytes per second, which is more than fast enough to do a lot of things at the same time, without suffering any loss in performance. For example, connecting on a work videocall, streaming films, gaming and running smart home devices can all run very smoothly at the same time with gigabit broadband.

Project Gigabit, which has received £5bn of government funding, is designed to provide 99% of UK premises with a gigabit-capable connection by 2032.

Currently, 82.4% of UK premises have access to gigabit-capable connection broadband, with Ashford somewhat behind that number with 72.3%.

As such, Project Gigabit is set to have a big impact on Ashford, with The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology’s public body Building Digital UK (BDUK) actively supporting areas with lower connectivity, such as Kent.

£112m of the £5bn has been allocated to Kent and Medway by BDUK, which will cover 72,000 properties. Of these, Government’s data related to Project Gigabit suggests 6,800 as Ashford properties, though this number could change.

Work will take place in phases across the county with City Fibre, contracted for the Kent rollout, due to announce their plans once they are confirmed.

Lots of progress made, but more work to do 

Over the years, Ashford Borough Council has been very proactive in ensuring that fibre broadband is available for residents, to the point it was recognised by providers as one of the best case studies for how local government can support broadband improvements. 

In addition, Ashford Borough Council has been asked by other authorities taking charge on broadband improvement to share their experiences and knowledge in this field.

However, Ashford faces its own challenges when it comes to broadband due to the rural nature of the borough, but work is being done to continue supporting improvements of digital connectivity.

Despite the challenges faced, Ashford Borough Council remains firmly committed to ensuring connectivity is achieved across the entire borough.

“While we’re delighted with the progress we’ve made over the last 12 months, we appreciate there’s still work to do to make sure Ashford has the best digital infrastructure it can possibly have,” Cllr Noel Ovenden, Leader of the Council said. “Our next steps are to ensure we keep putting in the vital work to improve connectivity in both urban and rural settings.”

How does all of this affect me?

There is a possibility that you are living in an area that has access to FTTP, but you may be unaware of that. As such, you could be able to access much faster internet access.

To check exactly what broadband options you have, visit the Think Broadband website and put your postcode in to see what’s available to you.