I have recently received correspondence from numerous constituents regarding internet speeds in Lower Harlestone. This is a matter I have been following closely and with this in mind I thought it appropriate to share the following from BT Openreach which I hope answers many of the questions and queries surrounding the issue:
"BT were planning to build a new cabinet in Lower Harlestone to deliver enhanced broadband speeds. This cabinet was included in a proposal BT had submitted to the County Council to utilise funding available to enable additional communities within the Superfast Northamptonshire programme area, to benefit from superfast speeds. After some deliberation, the County Council rejected BT’s proposal in favour of including the area within their Phase 3 plans.
I am very sorry that the planned fibre cabinet for Lower Harlestone is no longer going ahead. This of course would have been of great benefit to the area and I can well understand why residents are upset that the project has been pulled. I am also aware that the local community has been waiting for high-speed broadband for a very long time and I can share their frustration at this latest setback.
Properties in Lower Harlestone are connected to cabinet 17 in Chapel Brampton. The cabinet was upgraded for fibre broadband in 2013 as part of our commercial programme. The technology we’ve used for the upgrade is Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC).
You may be aware that premises in excess of 1.5km from the fibre cabinet struggle to support a FTTC service. Premises in Lower Harlestone are around 5km from cabinet 17 and at that distance, I’m afraid FTTC simply won’t work.
We are aware of premises in this situation and there are solutions available. For example installing new fibre cabinets closer to the community, or using alternative technologies such as Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), where fibre cables are installed right into the property. These are all costly though and are usually only completed with some kind of public funding.
This is where Government funded BDUK projects, like Superfast Northamptonshire, step in. Using public funds they will arrange for fibre solutions to be found and built to provide fibre services to commercially challenging areas such as Lower Harlestone.
We have been clear that the final say on areas to be upgraded, falls within the remit of the County Council. It is for this reason that we advised residents to contact the Superfast Northamptonshire programme office for further updates:
http://www.superfastnorthamptonshire.net/Pages/home.aspx
I know it’s understandable from the community’s view point that because we are completing the work on behalf of the County Council, Openreach had given a commitment to provide the service. I’m afraid this isn’t so. We can only include areas within the rollout plan that we are contracted to undertake by the County Council.
My advice to residents is to continue to engage with the Superfast Northamptonshire team to ensure that a solution for Lower Harlestone is progressed via their Phase 3 plans."
I do hope the residents of Lower Harlestone find this useful and rest assured I will be following this issue closely.