26 Nov Essex residents given a head start on pre-Christmas sales
Savvy shoppers living in rural Essex can grab a bargain in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales before residents in big cities like London and Birmingham, thanks to a new ultrafast internet connection.
While the average download speed in the UK is approximately 24Mbps,1 5,315 properties in the county now have access to download and upload speeds of up to 1Gbps – over 40 times faster than the national average. A further 650 properties in the Braintree District of Essex are also due to go live in time for the big event. This improved bandwidth will give them a head start of minutes in some cases when bidding for items online against the rest of Britain.
Access to this ultrafast connection follows the rollout of Gigaclear’s full fibre network in the region as part of Essex County Council’s Superfast Essex project. The company has also made a significant commercial investment in the region and is funding the rollout of its network to 24,000 properties in the region. Gigaclear’s network transforms communities by allowing residents in rural areas to benefit from fast, reliable broadband speeds in an ever progressive online world.
According to research, 2 people living in the South East spent an average of £190 each during the busy Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales period last year. This figure is expected to increase further in 2019 as families start their Christmas shopping early to make the most of the price drop event.
Tony Smith, Regional General Manager at Gigaclear, said: “Access to the fastest internet speeds in the UK will be a huge advantage for residents on what is, for many, a hugely important weekend for online shopping. We hope to empower remote communities that may otherwise not have access to broadband by giving them the opportunity to grab the best deals online before anyone else.
“We expect to see a spike in the amount of online activity over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Due to the speedy capacity of our network, our customers in Essex will be the ones grabbing the best bargains online.”