People on Walney Island now have access to fast wireless broadband.
In just eight weeks, the network designed and built by rural broadband specialists Voneus, is up and running.
The firm partnered with Cambium Networks and the project was only possible with the support of Westmorland and Furness Council, the firm said.
It is Cambium’s largest 60 GHz cnWave network in Europe.
Voneus are specialists in bringing ultrafast connectivity to hard-to-reach communities that are often left out of broadband network plans.
Gigabit wireless technology uses existing lighting poles to carry the signal from point to point, and therefore avoids digging up roads and blocking streets with road closures.
One of the first to enjoy this game-changing broadband technology was Walney resident Colin Grosvenor, an IT engineer for the NHS.
Colin said: “It’s important to me to have good broadband speeds in order to make sure I can do my work for the NHS from home. The speeds I was getting with my previous supplier were terribly slow, but with Voneus they are incredible.”
In partnership with local authority Westmoreland and Furness Council, Voneus selected street lighting columns to deploy the network which is capable of delivering up to 1 gigabit speeds both upload and download.
Voneus is working closely with the community on Walney Island, and to date has supported the North Scale Community Centre, Walney FC, Walney School and the Roundhouse Café.
