Newport residents and companies are being urged to take part in BT’s Race to Infinity to win a prize of super fast broadband in the area.
Households and businesses across Wales will be able to demonstrate local demand for super-fast fibre broadband by taking part in a nationwide BT survey, run as a competition called the Race to Infinity. The five winning areas will get high speed broadband by early 2012.
One of Newport’s exchanges (Castleton) is already in the top five and with your help Newport could take one of the top spots.
The race, which runs until 31 December 2010 at www.racetoinfinity.bt.com, will map demand for fibre broadband across the UK, helping BT identify ‘hot spots’ where demand is high. The data will be used to influence the company’s future deployment plans.
If one of Newport’s exchanges wins, the whole city could benefit. Once super-fast broadband is installed at an exchange it makes further upgrades more cost effective – giving Newport a better chance of getting the improved service across the city.
BT is also pledging to engage with any community not winning the competition where at least 75 per cent of homes and businesses have voted for super-fast broadband. All possibilities of bringing fibre broadband to the area will be explored.
By taking part in the survey, communities will have the opportunity to make their voices heard as the company decides where else to deploy the technology.
Participants can vote for fibre broadband on the Race to Infinity website, which will show the number and percentage of votes received for each exchange.
The website also offers downloadable information packs, flyers and posters for people who want to become active super-fast broadband campaigners. The communities which have the most success with campaigns could qualify for BT support with stickers, badges, a digital camera or money towards a local radio promotion.
Register you vote at:
Background information
BT Infinity is fibre optic broadband that provides super-fast download speeds of up to 40Mb. There is a plan to roll the Infinity programme out across the UK over the next five years, but this will not cover all areas.
BT has launched a competition called The Race to Infinity to give communities the chance to have superfast broadband in their area by 2012 – potentially way ahead of the rollout programme.
