As part of the UK government’s Project Gigabit programme, Freedom Fibre has been awarded £24 million to upgrade the broadband infrastructure across North Shropshire.
In addition to numerous social and economic benefits, investment will also provide approximately 12,000 homes and businesses with access to lightning-fast, gigabit-capable broadband.
Since the announcement of the project in 2023, the Freedom Fibre team have been working hard to survey the landscape and design the network. Now, our green active cabinets – the cabinets that allow us to deliver the fibre optic network to premises - have been installed in Hadnall, Harlescott, Montford Bridge and Cockshutt. From December 2024 we expect our new full-fibre broadband network to be available for residents in parts of Hadnall, Upper Battlefield, Shrewsbury, Upper Ercall, Roden, Bomere Heath & West Felton.
Freedom Fibre is active within these local communities, providing a range of social services through councils and community groups. Freedom Fibre is proud to have sponsored networking events run by Project SY12, BizEd Project CiC, and Wem Rural Parish Council throughout 2024. These groups hosted several events in Wem, Ellesmere and Whitchurch, bringing local businesspeople together and encouraging entrepreneurship.
In addition, the 2024 Freedom Fund provided thousands of pounds of funding to approximately 23 North Shropshire Community groups to support their good and green projects. On receiving the grant, Kathryn Holland, Welshampton & Lyneal Parish Councillor, said
“with your help we bought wood and ancillary materials to make bird boxes, bat boxes, and bug/butterfly hotels… we thought you should know how useful the grant has been to our working group on climate, sustainability and diversity.”
When the Project Gigabit build is complete, homes and businesses will be able to connect to a full-fibre network that is 5x more reliable and 45x faster than the legacy copper network*, with residents benefiting from broadband speeds of up to 900Mb/s and supporting working from home, gaming, and streaming on multiple devices.
Residents in North Shropshire who are interested in experiencing the Freedom Fibre difference and supercharging their connectivity can register their interest at www.freedomfibre.com/connect to be notified as soon as they can connect.
*Based on data from Ofcom report ‘Building a full-fibre future 2018’.
^Haart, Broadband and property prices, 2023
Comments