Birmingham today (Friday) joins an elite group of global cities that can boast ‘gigabit’ status — broadband speeds of 1,000Mbps, over 135 times faster than traditional ASDL speeds.
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband provider, Hyperoptic UK, has enabled its gigabit services at Queens College Chambers, a residential development in the middle of the city, and a number of developments are undergoing installation. Hyperoptic aims to have thousands of residents and businesses connected to its network by the end of the year.
Through becoming a ‘gigabit city,’ Birmingham residents and businesses can finally connect enjoy everything the internet has to offer, without fear of sluggish speeds, buffering and peak-time slowdowns.
Tim Huxtable, national team manager at Hyperoptic, said: “We are thrilled to switch on our gigabit services in Birmingham and add the city to our dedicated fibre network. For too long residents and businesses in Birmingham have been short-changed with sub-standard broadband connectivity — across the city the average broadband speed is 20.7Mbps — we are charging this up by over 4,000%, taking the time from downloading a HD movie from approximately seven minutes to seven seconds.
“With reliable, hyperfast broadband comes limitless business opportunities and the ability to live our lives without compromise or worrying about bandwidth and taking it in turns to go online!”
Councillor Lisa Trickett, Cabinet member for Sustainability, said: “I am pleased to see new private sector investment in the city that enables access to faster broadband services for our citizens and businesses. I am sure that this will encourage further investments and will ensure that Birmingham’s residents continue to benefit from great digital services.”
