Airband announces key milestone on £11.2m Shropshire project

News from our partners Airband

Worcester-based Internet Service Provider Airband has announced that the first customer on the Connecting Shropshire project has gone live in Shifnal, Shropshire.

The project, part of the UK Government’s superfast broadband rollout and supported by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, is part of an £11.2m contract to extend Superfast broadband to 14,000+ local premises by 2020.

IT security manager Andrew Lee and his wife Sulayma, who live in a village outside Shifnal, are the first to be installed with Superfast broadband under the first phase of the project. The couple have been waiting for faster broadband for four years and are delighted to now have a Superfast broadband connection from Airband.

Andrew and Sulayma Lee are the first customers to be installed with superfast broadband by Airband under the Connecting Shropshire programme. Photo credit: James Greenoff-Cairns.

Andrew said:-

“We live in a tiny village with just 46 houses three miles from Shifnal, close to Cosford airbase, but our communications have always been poor.

“When BT upgraded the exchange in Albrighton it didn’t make any difference to us, so we were really keen to get a better connection with Airband.

“It’s a challenging location so installation wasn’t straightforward. I think this is because we are in a valley and it took a while to establish line-of-sight connection and also because our house is a listed building. They were very patient and thorough and to be honest I’m overjoyed with the results.

“Before our Airband connection, we had download speed of 2.5 Mbps. Streaming stuff was awful – it was always buffering, and working from home was almost impossible. Now we have 30 Mbps and I am able to work from home when I need to.”

Dave Lloyd, project manager at Airband, said:

“Rural Shropshire suffers with some of the poorest broadband speeds in the UK, and we are delighted to be playing a significant role in turning this situation around. This key milestone highlights the progress we’re making to help connect rural residents across the county. The project will be going live in five phases. Phase 1 of the project is due to complete in Spring and involves 28 transmitter sites. During this period, Airband will be making Superfast broadband available to 7,000 homes. Further areas will be going live incrementally as the network is created.”

At present, Airband is offering a range of Superfast broadband packages to suit everyone, from £10 to £42 per month, dependent on data and speed requirements.

Nic Laurens, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for broadband, commented:

“Making superfast broadband available to 14,000+ homes and businesses by the end of 2020 will be a boost to Shropshire’s economy. We want to improve the personal and professional lives of people in Shropshire and delivering better broadband services is a key part of this aim. The first live customer on the new Airband network is a landmark that we feel very excited about. We’re very pleased with the progress Airband is making and we look forward to their roll-out of this project over the coming months and years.”

This week’s first live customer announcement comes just a few weeks after Connecting Shropshire and Airband announced the live launch of the first transmitter site, serving over 300 homes and businesses. The transmitter provides superfast broadband connectivity of 30Mbps to parts of Sheriffhales and Shifnal parishes, and other communities further east, such as Tong. Now that the network for phase 1 is well underway, it is anticipated that Superfast broadband will be available to 7,000 homes by the end of Spring this year.

Airband’s deployment of fixed wireless broadband works by sending a radio signal from a transmitter site to a small receiver attached to the property. A cable is then run into the building allowing the end-user to access the internet in the same way as any other broadband connection.

Further information

About Connecting Shropshire

• The Connecting Shropshire programme is bringing superfast broadband (with a download speed of at least 30mbps) to parts of the Shropshire Council area where it isn’t economically viable for commercial companies to do so.
• Since 2013, Connecting Shropshire has provided over 54,000 premises in the Shropshire Council area with access to a superfast broadband connection.
• More information is available on the Connecting Shropshire programme website: http://connectingshropshire.co.uk/

About Airband

• Airband is an internet service provider that focuses on delivering superfast broadband to ‘hard to reach’ and rural communities across England and Wales where a traditional fibre solution cannot be used. This is achieved by using fixed wireless radio wave technology to bring speeds of 20Mbps to 1Gbps, connecting users to the internet via overground transmissions rather than digging up roads to lay underground cables. The result is a low impact solution ideally suited to rural areas, National Parks and AONBs.
• With over 10 years’ experience, the Airband team plan, install and maintain a private network, tailoring the solution to the local environment, taking into account the geography, the existing wireless landscape and the economics of each project, enabling the best possible connection and speed to each location.
• For more information, please contact Lauren Davies on 01905 676121 or by email at: lauren.davies@air-band.net

About Superfast Britain

• Superfast Britain is a Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race.
• Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of life. For further information: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk

About the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership

• The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is driving accelerated economic growth through investment in innovation, higher level skills, housing and business sites across the region. It aims to deliver 70,000 homes and 40,000 jobs by 2031.
• The Marches region, which includes Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, is a dynamic business region where entrepreneurs flourish alongside global players. Covering 2,300 sq miles and with a growing population of 666,700, it is home to 29,800 businesses and a £12.3 billion economy.
• Bordered by the West Midlands to the east and Wales to the west, the Marches’ key centres of population and employment are the city of Hereford and thriving towns of Shrewsbury and Telford.  A network of 25 smaller market towns and a large rural area make up the rest of the settlement mix – with the Marches recognised as being one of the most enterprising regions in the UK.
• High profile businesses which have chosen to base operations here include BAE Defence Systems; GKN; Westons Cider; Grainger & Worrall; Stadco; Caterpillar; Mϋller Dairy UK, Doncasters Aerospace, Denso, Capgemini, Ricoh, Cargill, Heineken, Grocontinental, McConnels, Kerry Ingredients, Special Metals, Kingspan and Makita.
• The Marches is also home to centres of excellence and institutions which promote and foster the transfer of knowledge including Harper Adams University and its National Centre for Precision Farming, University Centre Shrewsbury, the University of Wolverhampton campus and e-innovation centre at Priorslee, and Food Enterprise Centre in Shrewsbury.
• The designated Enterprise Zone of the Marches LEP is in Hereford, at Skylon Park. It is the only Enterprise Zone in England with a unique defence and security sector focus, drawing on the city’s heritage as the home of the SAS.
• The LEP area is home to some iconic places of interest. The Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, the Shropshire Hills and the Wye Valley Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Offa’s Dyke, the rivers Severn and Wye, and places of national renown including Ludlow and Ross-on-Wye make it a highly popular place to both visit and relocate to.
• The Marches has a diverse business base and is recognised for its sector strength in advanced manufacturing and engineering; agri-food and drink; automotive and defence & security.
• Business support in the Marches is offered via the Marches Growth Hub, a business-friendly website at www.marchesgrowthhub.co.uk and helpline on 0345 6000 727, developed by the LEP.
• You can learn more about the Marches LEP at www.marcheslep.org.uk and contact the LEP by emailing enquiries@marcheslep.org.uk

Local Growth Fund

• Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are playing a vital role in driving forward economic growth across the country, helping to build a country that works for everyone. That’s why, by 2021, Government will have invested over £12bn through the Local Growth Fund, allowing LEPs to use their local knowledge to get all areas of the country firing on all cylinders. Analysis has shown that every £1 of Local Growth Fund invested could generate £4.81 in benefits
• Further information: if you would like some further facts about the Fund, or the wider regeneration work going on across the country, please contact the DCLG press office by emailing NewsDesk@communities.gsi.gov.uk in the first instance to request any additional information you might need.