YEARS of frustration for Southend and Rochford residents have “definitely been worth it” after a £60 million investment created broadband “25 times faster” than before.

A project to install faster internet led to years of roadworks and disruption for residents and businesses but now the company behind the work has insisted it will bring a “massive boost” to south Essex. 

CityFibre began work in 2019 which led to closed roads, diversions and delays for residents for more than three years. 

Following completion of the multi-million project in December, the Echo met with CityFibre representatives who explained the benefits the new network.

Daniel Nelson, councillor responsible for economic growth and investment, said: “This is a fantastic step towards making Southend a modern digital city, attracting world class business and being a city we can all be proud to live, work and visit.”

More than 70,000 homes and businesses are ready to be hooked up to the network, with 10,000 connected so far.

Echo: Technician Patrick McCarry showed the Echo inside one of the state-of-the-art fibre optic exchanges recently installed in Southend.Technician Patrick McCarry showed the Echo inside one of the state-of-the-art fibre optic exchanges recently installed in Southend. (Image: Ben Shahrabi)

Residents and businesses will be offered faster download and upload speeds of one gigabit per second, more than ten times the UK average.

Technician Patrick McCarry said: “We’re offering a stable network, with good connectivity, that is much more reliable than copper cables. It’s much more secure as it’s harder to tap into and isn’t vulnerable to electromagnetic interference or bad weather.”

Echo: Ben Green was in charge of the project to lay 13,000 kilometres of cable.Ben Green was in charge of the project to lay 13,000 kilometres of cable. (Image: Ben Shahrabi)

Build manager Ben Green insists the benefits of the network “one hundred percent” outweigh the months of disruption.

He said: “Unfortunately, disruption is in the nature of utilities, but we have done everything we can to minimise that.

“It’s short-term pain for long-term gain. It will be well worth it in the long term.”

CityFibre insists there should not need to be any level of disruption like that seen in south Essex again “for decades”.

Ben added: “If new technology needs to be added, we’ve already built the foundations for that now.”

The new network provides a choice of 15 internet service providers, including Vodafone and TalkTalk, so customers are not restricted.

Echo: Neil Madle says the installation will benefit residents and businesses in south Essex.Neil Madle says the installation will benefit residents and businesses in south Essex. (Image: Ben Shahrabi)

CityFibre partnership manager Neil Madle added: “Southend will become one of the best-connected cities in the country. The benefit is customers will get much better and faster broadband for often the same price, as competition between the rival brands helps drive prices down.

“A lot of people are struggling with five to ten megabits per second, this is 1,000 megabits per second. We’re really futureproofing it.”