Waveney MP Peter Aldous today commented on the news that three exchanges in the Waveney area are set to be upgraded by Autumn 2012 bringing superfast broadband to Lowestoft, Beccles and Bungay.

Lowestoft is likely to see 26,000 premises improved, Beccles 5,000 premises and Bungay 2,500 premises.
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BT's local network business Openreach expects to make super-fast fibre broadband available to two-thirds of UK homes and businesses by the end of 2015*. It is building the new network using a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies. Both provide much faster speeds than those previously available to many UK homes and businesses.

FTTC, delivered to street cabinets, currently offers download speeds of up to 40Mbps and upstream speeds up to 10Mbps. Openreach is planning to roughly double these speeds next year. FTTP, where the fibre goes directly to homes and businesses, will offer speeds of up to 100Mbps.

Mr Aldous has been campaigning since his election in May 2010 to secure better broadband for Waveney viewing as essential to the area's economic recovery and future prosperity. In April 2011 Mr Aldous hosted the Suffolk Broadband Conference which welcomed senior industry representatives, including BT, and local councillors from across Suffolk to outline the difficulties Suffolk faces and explore the potential solutions.

Mr Aldous said:

"I welcome the news that BT is upgrading these exchanges, this is an important step forward. These upgrades will make a significant difference to the broadband speeds many people in Waveney receive and will help attract and retain businesses and families to our area. I look forward to working with the Suffolk Broadband team to ensure that the recently secured Government money is channelled to those areas which remain."