How Sunderland families could see household bills cut through multi-million pound broadband project

Families in Sunderland could see their household bills slashed thanks to a multi-million pound broadband project, bosses have claimed.

CityFibre, a digital infrastructure provider, was unveiled in January (2021) as the firm behind a planned £60 million project to overhaul Wearside’s telecoms network.

And it is hoped that by the time the scheme is complete, more than 90 per cent of properties and premises in the city will be connected and ready to receive the fastest internet speeds.

“That will mean we’ll get a whole new set of internet service providers (ISPs) who want to promote different internet services and connectivity packages,” said Liz St Louis, assistant director of smart cities at Sunderland City Council.

“That will mean more choice for individuals and should drive down prices.

“I get contacted by [councillors] and residents who are really frustrated because they’ve only got the choice of one or two providers, the speeds aren’t good and they can’t work from home in the way they want to.

“This should bring a lot more choice, start to drive down that price point and provide much much better options for residents and businesses.”

St Louis was speaking at last week’s (Thursday, April 15) meeting of the city council’s Scrutiny Coordinating Committee, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

Many households in Sunderland face a postcode lottery for broadband speeds.

A report for the House of Commons released last month (March) showed average download speeds in Lambton, in Washington, were more than double those in Biddick, less than a mile away.

It is hoped that quicker broadband could have a range of use across Wearside, such as:

‘Assistive technologies’ to help families, carers and social workers monitor vulnerable people Monitoring of traffic and congestion Smart sensors in bins to improve street cleaning

St Louis added: “[There’s] some great benefits we can bring for local people, in terms of job creation and apprenticeships for local businesses on the back of this.

“Connectivity is really important, without it we can’t do a lot, [but] it’s not really about the underpinning connectivity, it’s about the benefits that we can deliver to our residents and to our businesses.”

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