Representatives from Connecting Cheshire, British Telecom, Cheshire East Council and the Parish Council were in the village this morning to unveil a new cabinet.
The green roadside cabinet on Heyes Lane is one of 14 which have recently been installed across Alderley Edge as part of the £28.5m Connecting Cheshire broadband project.
The faster broadband roll-out will see 1,300 premises in Alderley Edge and surrounding areas upgraded to a fibre service and an additional two cabinets will be installed and working within the next month.
Alderley Edge is one the first communities to benefit from the first phase of investment in new fibre broadband networks which will be delivered by Openreach, BT's local network business, over the next 18 months.
Andrew Arditti, Digital Engagement Manager at Connecting Cheshire explained "This provides Fibre to Cabinet which will provide adequate speeds for people living within a mile of the cabinet, which most people do. For those who are further away it will drop off but people will still see an improvement. In due course people can upgrade to Fibre on Demand (which will provide a fibre service from the cabinet to your property)."
The new upgraded fibre service does not happen automatically though - local residents and businesses need to contact their service provider to arrange the new service.
Andrew added "People have to speak to their internet service provider in order to upgrade, or not if they are happy with the current speed. In most cases the price difference for fibre service should be minimal and people can shop around as there is a range of providers - they don't have to go with BT."
Photo: (l-r) Jenny Shufflebottom (Nether Alderley Parish Council), Councillor Dorothy Flude (Mayor of Cheshire East), Mike Blackburn (NW Regional Director BT), Julian Cobley (Project Director) and Councillor Frank Keegan.
