LOCAL MP John Healey has raised concerns about delays in the rollout of fast broadband with the chief executive of BT.
He took the move after discovering the upgrade of a cabinet in Wath has been delayed by nearly two years. He’s received similar reports from people elsewhere in the constituency, particularly Thurnscoe.
The Wentworth & Dearne MP said: “This is an example of the poor service, broken promises and delays I’m seeing across the constituency.
“Local people are having to wait far longer than they should for a decent broadband service.
“BT are the only company able to do this work, they’re unaccountable and they’re not having to earn their customers.
“I want the chief executive to explain these failings and step in to make improvements.”
Chris Dalton, of Quarry Bank Road, Wath, contacted Mr Healey in January after seeing his initial completion date of May 2014 pushed back several times. BT told the MP the work would be done by the end of April, but this deadline was missed. The date has since been pushed back again to as late as March 2016.
Mr Dalton said: “I have lost faith in this ever being completed.
“I have worked in the broadband and talk industry for over seven years now. I have worked for a couple of large internet service providers and the service Openreach provide is simply not good enough.
“Although it has got better over the last few years, more needs to be done to ensure they do what they say they will. If this was any other business they would have likely been fined and would probably no longer be trading.”
He is struggling with broadband speeds of 1.5-2.7mbps. According to Ofcom, the average UK broadband speed is 22.8 mbps.
Mr Healey wants to hear from constituents who have experienced delays in being upgraded to fibre broadband.