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High Speed Fibre Broadband rolled out across Redbridge Social Housing
Published: 11 May 2023
Redbridge’s social housing properties are set to benefit from full fibre broadband, as part of council investment in the borough’s digital infrastructure.
Full fibre uses fibre-optic cables, rather than the old-style copper wiring used in standard internet services, providing access to fast, reliable internet speeds and future-proofing Redbridge digital services for years to come.
Redbridge Council is working with leading digital infrastructure providers Openreach and Community Fibre as well as others to enable them to bring full fibre broadband into the borough.
Internet is now the ‘fourth utility’, an everyday necessity alongside water, electricity, and gas. We are working to enable the installation of high-speed full fibre internet connections to social housing properties in the borough, so that tenants and leaseholders can access some of the fastest and most reliable connections in London at a range of tariffs.
Full fibre means that homes can access speeds of up to a gigabit per second, allowing households to use data and streaming services such as gaming, video calls, and television services like BBC iPlayer, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video across multiple devices at the same time without connection being disrupted.
1 in 20 households do not have home internet access (Ofcom 2022). Without further intervention, 5.8 million people are estimated to remain digitally excluded by the end of 2032 (Cebr 2022). An estimated 7% of postcodes within Local London are affected by poor broadband speeds.
At present around 45.4% of premises in Redbridge have access to high-speed fibre.
This is one of the biggest undertakings by the council in addressing digital inequality to bring the best possible connections for residents and businesses as more and more people rely on digital services for their day-to-day activities.
Redbridge Council wants local people to have equitable access to the internet, the skills to use it, and an understanding of the potential it has for their lives. Residents need to have the same opportunity as everyone else and we want to build a strong, inclusive and fair borough.
Further work being undertaken as part of our growing digital infrastructure programme includes utilising ‘small cell’ technology to improve 5G phone service connections, which is quicker to deploy and doesn’t require planning as well as installing fibre in Hainault Business Park which will serve 7,000 employees and open-up global market opportunities to 118 businesses.
The Council is working with the broadband providers to ensure residents will be able to access affordable packages, supporting more people to benefit from modern internet connection especially in the face of the rising cost of living. Residents will be able to subscribe to services later this year.
Cllr Helen Coomb, Cabinet Member for Transformation & Digital, said: “I am delighted to see local people being offered the opportunity to access fast fibre broadband. It is part of our work to improve the infrastructure locally for our neighbours and businesses. We are committed to reducing the digital divide wherever we can.”
Cllr Vanisha Solanki, Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness said: “With the internet playing such an important role in our everyday day lives, be it work, education and entertainment, our investment in the borough’s digital infrastructure will help to both ensure those who live in properties owned by the council have access to reliable and fast internet connection as well as addressing digital inequality”.
Cllr Jas Athwal, Leader of the Council said: “Digital reliance will continue to grow over the coming years, by working with reputable providers, our residents will be able to access a range of different packages that are both affordable but also offers a reliable service they can depend on to carry out everyday activities”.