Eastbourne council funding fibre broadband rollout

Wireless and fibre optic broadband will be rolled out in Eastbourne thanks to a new initiative from the borough council.

The local authority is set to spend £357,000 on the project, with the official launch due to take place in January, reports the Eastbourne Herald.

Once the deployment is finished, residents and businesses will be able to access speeds of between 10Mbps and 1Gbps, plus free Wi-Fi usage on the East Sussex town's seafront.

According to Ofcom, the average sync speed currently available to properties in East Sussex is 6.7Mbps, while just three per cent of homes are connected to fibre optic broadband.

The move has come about after the council agreed to make an equity investment in super-fast broadband technology firm CloudConnX. It is hoped the company's growth over the coming years will provide a revenue stream for the administration.

Council leader David Tutt said: "Access to high-speed broadband connectivity is a must-have for any business looking to relocate or implement major expansion plans."