Gary Walker, Conservative Campaigner for Forton Ward, is incredibly pleased to announce that residents in Forton Ward, including in The Crossways, Dukes Road, Lee Road, Kealy Road, Keith Close, and Rogers Close can now access superfast broad from today.
Gary said “The speed of our broadband is an issue I have campaigned for for some time now. When I’m out and about in Forton every day, I meet residents and business owners and both raise the matter of their broadband speed.
“I believe in action, not words, and that’s why I’ve been working with Caroline Dinenage, Gosport’s MP, to ensure that OFCOM the telecoms regulator works with the phone companies to implement the Universal Service Obligation (USO), giving everyone access to speeds of at least 10 Mbps by 2020.
Caroline Dinenage MP said “This is great news for Constituents, not only in Forton, but across Gosport. Broadband speeds are regularly mentioned to me within certain areas of the constituency and this legislation should ensure that everyone will have access to equal and high speed broadband.”
Gary added “It’s great news that Forton residents are getting access to the fastest broadband speeds, and two years before the deadline of 2020, and I’ll continue to work to get this improved service for other Forton Roads in the coming months.”
The regulatory approach also brings a number of other advantages for residents:
- the minimum speed of connection can be increased over time as consumers’ connectivity requirements evolve;
- it provides for greater enforcement to help ensure households and businesses do get connected;
- the scheme will maximise the provision of fixed line connections in the hardest to reach areas; and
- places a legal requirement for high speed broadband to be provided to anyone requesting it, subject to a cost threshold (in the same way the universal service right to a landline telephone works)