Village Voice June/July 2012 | Page 3

COMMENT Many of us in the villages surrounding Alresford are disappointed to find that we will be left out in the cold when Hampshire gets its superfast broadband. Hampshire County Council expects to have a total budget of around £20m to improve broadband within the county. Their planning assumption is that implementation will commence early in 2013 and be completed in 2015. They say that the aim of their programme is to ensure that 90% of the premises within Hampshire receive access to 'super-fast' speeds in excess of 24Mbps with the remaining 10% having access to a minimum of 2Mbps. (They emphasise that 2Mbps will be the minimum speed and they expect to push beyond this speed.) Here’s an example: As some concerned residents have established, Gundleton’s distance from the exchange (around 4km) is provisionally within the hardest-to-reach 10%. In other words, because you live outside the town, you could be penalised. It won’t matter how urgent your need for fast broadband, your geographical location will dictate the availability, while people in the town will have broadband 12 times faster. bidders the high level of demand that exists in Hampshire they are more likely to receive a greater injection of private finance which will help them push beyond the 90% target. So if you haven’t yet registered your demand, I implore you to do so now, and help us get a fairer allocation. If you want to talk to other interested parties, please contact: Barry Edge on [email protected] Jill Buss PARISH EDUCATION TRUST For information concerning the Trust, please see the article, Arle Valley Benefice Educational Fund on page 9, in this issue of the magazine. FOR SALE Samsung CLP-610ND Colour Laser printer. Regularly maintained and in very good working condition. Recently serviced and image transfer belt and fuser unit both replaced. Used for printing Village Voice magazine. Asking price: £150* Buyer collects. The easiest way for any constituent to influence HCC’s penetration is to register their demand for faster broadband at www.hants.gov.uk/broadband-signup HCC say if they can demonstrate to Please call (09162) 734853 Demo of working condition provided on request. * NB: Price includes new spare Fuser Unit and toner cartridges. 1