Back in 2013, Neil Darwin gave me the platform at Opportunity Peterborough to address 200 people with a wavering but passionate voice; Fengate, Cygnet Park, Woodston and Orton Southgate suffered from attrocious broadband provision and had no prospect of anything better than the BT offering … which putting it politely wasn’t much and was woefully inadequate.
We sought to bring pressure to bear on BT to improve their offering, but being monolithic and unresponsive; it just wasn’t happening. It was by happy co-incidence that in the wings stood CityFibre, who in partnership with the city council, were preparing to make Peterborough a gigabit city.
During the later implementation stage we had the pleasure of working with their team through the past 18 months to raise awareness of gigabit broadband and its benefits. From a city in the digital backwater to one of the best provisioned in the UK; gigabit broadband has the potential to make Peterborough the go-to city for businesses in our region.
It has been in equal measure, fun, frustrating and occasionally terrifying. I have met people who are genuinely passionate about their product and our city and it has even changed my views in a positive way on the value of local politics …. I didn’t see that coming!
I would like to offer special thanks to Neil Darwin, Opportunity Peterborough, Andy Starnes of CityFibre and Gavin Elsey for their exceptional support of the campaign.
All that remains is to say; go get some gigabit!
Reliable and fast broadband is no longer a luxury; it’s a downright necessity and if this campaign has taught me anything; it’s that waiting around for BT to respond to your needs is a folly.
Lindsey Hall
