First phase of programme aimed at delivering faster broadband to 95,000 homes in South Yorkshire completed

The contract has been delivered through the Superfast South Yorkshire (SFSY) programme, which is a partnership between the four South Yorkshire local authorities, Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, UK Government and Openreach.

A SFSY spokesman said 95,000 businesses and residents can access ‘superfast speeds’ as a result of the programme, adding that the upgrades have been well received with more than half of the 55,000 newly-enabled homes signing up for a service so far.

Minister for Digital and Broadband, Matt Warman, said: “It is fantastic to see that nearly 95,000 residents and businesses in South Yorkshire are now reaping the benefits of superfast speeds. Connectivity is high on the UK Government’s agenda. We want to deliver world-class, gigabit-capable broadband across the country as soon as possible and have already committed more than £650 million for full fibre roll-out.”

The second phase of the programme will see 10,000 more homes and businesses upgraded, with the majority set to receive Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology, capable of speeds of up to 1Gbps (Gigabit per second).

The SFSY team celebrated the completion of the first phase of the programme by visiting local businesses who are already benefiting from faster broadband speeds, including Delta Adhesives who manufacture and sell own-brand and bespoke industrial adhesives and sealants.

Peter Atkinson, Managing Director of Delta Adhesives, said, ‘We had very slow speeds of around 4Mbps which made uploading and downloading data very difficult. We had limited capacity to issue electronic invoices and often had to send them by post which was both expensive and time-consuming. Online banking was also a nightmare to use, often freezing or crashing which made us very reluctant to use it.

“Having FTTP has enabled us to develop our IT systems and use them to their full potential. We’ve moved to an integrated VOIP telephony system which means as soon as a customer calls us their account is immediately accessible. We’ve also tightened security by improving our on-site and off-site back-up and business continuity arrangements and enhancing our premises alarm systems.

“We are currently re-building our website and can easily email brochures, product guides and price lists now and we will be saying goodbye to the franking machine! I would definitely recommend FTTP to other businesses.”