Cut-price deals to bring superfast internet to thousands of Londoners

Thousands of Londoners will get access to “affordable” superfast broadband under a new scheme to tackle the problems of slow and costly connections.

Internet providers will offer cut-price deals in return for the right to lay fibre optic cables at estates run by the City of London Corporation. There would be one free superfast wifi hotspot on each estate.

The idea could become a blueprint for a faster roll-out of high-speed internet in the capital. More than 7,500 residents will able to access internet speeds of up to one gigabit per second when the scheme is ready next year, opening up high bandwidth services such as video on demand.

Residents on benefits might be offered a 20 megabit per second service for only £5 or £10 a month — a fraction of the regular cost. Neal Hounsell, acting director of the corporation’s community and children’s services, said: “We are responding to the need to provide faster internet access to Londoners at an affordable price.

“This project will mean that our housing developments in central London are better connected with faster broadband speeds.”

London suffers from poor broadband speeds overall, ranking 26th out of 33 European capitals. Four of the 12 estates covered by the scheme are in blackspots where speeds are particularly slow.

Most of the estates only have copper wire broadband, limited to speeds of 10 megabits per second or less.

The City wants each building to be linked to superfast broadband with the cut-price service available to residents on low incomes or benefits.

Up to five internet providers will be invited to bid in each estate, with affordability and quality of service at the top of the list.