Kingsway residents campaign for more broadband choice

Residents of Kingsway, Gloucestershire have petitioned Virgin to install fibre optic broadband infrastructure in their area in order to offer them a greater choice of services.

Hundreds of people have contacted their local residents' association and launched a petition in a bid to encourage the broadband provider to expand their services.

Currently only Sky and BT offer broadband in the south-west England village, reports the Citizen.

Herefordshire Council and Gloucestershire County Council recently joined forces to contribute £13.5 million to encourage fibre optic broadband providers to set up infrastructure in the regions, but Kingsway people have argued they are being left behind.

Barry Kirby from the residents' group explained that Virgin has contacted them to warn there are no plans in the offing to provide services to the area.

"I really don't understand their thinking. We have hundreds of people wanting this in an estate that is set to grow to 3,600 homes in the coming years," Mr Kirby said.

A spokesman from Virgin Media noted that the broadband provider has invested roughly £13 billion in network access provision and feels it needs to pick and choose the areas into which it expands.