Since returning to Parliament in January Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton, has met various companies involved in the communications industry. He wants to find solutions to delivering superfast broadband to hard to reach communities. The meetings produced various ideas and options including wireless, fibre, mobile and satellite solutions.
In seeking viable and reliable communications, Mr Hollinrake has discovered a collection of options that together could bring a new era of communication even to the most rural locations.
Mr Hollinrake recently met with FluidData, who want to enable the delivery of a wide range of services, including Sky and BT Sport to customers regardless of the type of network they are connected to.
This month he has also met with BT and visited the telephone exchange in Easingwold where he saw how the fibre connection is delivered to the cabinets in the surrounding villages. He also witnessed how the network could be adapted to assist with mobile phone provision in the future. BT representatives also explained their roll out of fibre over the next 12 months. He has also lobbied hard to get as many new settlements as possible into a further rollout of fibre by Spring 2017.
The MP has held meetings with both national and local companies with a wide range of interests. He has spoken to Boundless Networks, based in Yorkshire, who deliver wireless broadband to the many parts of the constituency. They are building a high speed backhaul which will assist with enabling communities to get connected.
Kevin Hollinrake has continued his conversations with Moorsweb who he introduced to Ed Vaizey MP in London last year. While visiting Rosedale Mr Hollinrake saw how a local manufacturing company was using the services of Moorsweb to facilitate their international exports.
During his various meetings Kevin Hollinrake has stressed to all the companies the importance to his constituents of a universal superfast broadband service. This is essential for both the county’s economic growth and the development of existing and new businesses as well as for the ease of residents. With the rise in banking and personal transactions online and increase in internet retail it is even more essential that homes are connected as soon as possible.
Mr Hollinrake stated “Although 82% of homes will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2016 and 93% by the end of 2017, many cannot wait for 2020 to get access, particularly those who rely on the good connections to run their business. We also need more masts and improved telecoms equipment to deliver a decent phone signal across the constituency. I am planning more meetings this year with many different types of communications providers to seek solutions to these problems.”