Vicarious Productions, an end-to-end film and television production facility based in a Tudor manor in Edvin Loach, is one of 400 premises in hard-to-reach communities who have gone from being among the worst connected areas in the UK to having access to some of the fastest internet in the country – following completion of the latest phase of works under the Fastershire project.
“Having an Airband connection means we are able to run a television and film production business here from the heart of the Herefordshire countryside,” says Vicarious Productions director Carol Harding, who is currently working on a production of My Name is Leon – an adaptation of Kit De Waal’s best-selling book by Shola Amoo (The Last Tree) for BBC One.
“I can direct people on set in real time, get rushes sent down the line and actually produce a whole film from this rural spot,” she said.
“During lockdown, having an Airband connection meant I was able to produce a short film for Greenacre Films/ITV in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. I was able to see and communicate with the director, cast and crew on set in real time, get rushes and edits sent down the line and actually produce a whole film from this rural spot,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without my Airband connection,” she said.
Carol is one of a growing number of residents and businesses who are thrilled with the increased capacity that better connectivity offers.
Orders are rolling in for the latest phase of broadband in the Herefordshire countryside delivered by Airband as part of the Fastershire programme, (a partnership between Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Councils).
Airband is deploying its bespoke fibre broadband solution, RuralOptic, to 10 dispersed clusters of premises spread across the county and the Tedstone Wafre area is the latest to complete.
Like Vicarious Productions, many more homes, pubs, farms, village shops, village halls, and a caravan park, in hard-to-reach communities around Tedstone Wafre, from Collington to Bromyard Downs, and west from Buckenhill to Edwyn Ralph, are stepping into a faster generation of broadband.
Airband has announced that take-up of the fibre broadband service is already at 15% – which is a significant uptake for the industry as people are often tied into existing contracts. Residents and businesses in the area have been eager to get FTTP (fibre to the premises) connections, which offer speeds of up to one gigabit per second (1Gbps) – which is 15 times faster than the current UK average of 64Mbps.
Ultrafast fibre broadband technology provides capacity for multiple devices, streaming, the use of smart appliances, and uninterrupted video calls. It also facilitates agri-tech software and better remote security.
The works, funded by the Rural Broadband Infrastructure Scheme and managed by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs using the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), coincided with measures put in place to tackle COVID-19.
Describing the uniquely trying circumstances faced by the team, Chris Penkoks, Marches Project Manager for Airband, said:
“Traditionally take-up on a new network can be quite slow as most people will be tied into 18 or 24 month contracts, so it shows how important better connectivity is for these rural communities. Rollout in Herefordshire has been slower than we’d hoped, and lockdown caused additional slowdown, but we’re now pushing ahead at pace to finish our other fibre clusters in Tarrington and Monkhide.”
Summing up his team’s performance, Chris, who himself only joined the Airband team this year, said, “The lockdown and the post-COVID arrangements have taken some getting used to. Workers out in the field had to maintain social distancing while doing their jobs, and as quite a few staff joined the company in March or later, they had to get to know their Airband colleagues by video call. There have been big delays on this project and sometimes rolling out rural broadband you encounter significant challenges and these were compounded by the lockdown. But now we’re working at pace to continue with the build and I’m really proud of how the team has pulled together.”
Commenting on the record take-up in the H3 cluster, Councillor Ellie Chowns, Cabinet Member for Environment, Economy and Skills said: “Covid has demonstrated how vital connectivity is in modern life and so we’re delighted but not surprised to see such a high take-up of ultrafast fibre broadband services.
“Working with firms like Airband, it is our mission to empower communities across Herefordshire with next generation connectivity that will improve lives and boost the regional and national economy.”
Fastershire is bringing faster broadband across rural Herefordshire and Gloucestershire and currently over 92% of Herefordshire properties can access a 30mbps or greater service, increasing to 97% under phase 2, and for more of the harder to reach businesses, Fastershire is using bespoke grants to provide access.
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