A towering success

UK telecoms company, Voneus is delivering superfast broadband to the village, with a wireless installation utilising the village’s 5th century church tower. Dunton was previously part of the 5% most poorly connected areas in the UK and is now receiving download speeds of between 60-80Mbps.

Voneus worked closely with Virgin Media to deliver a medium scale Fixed Wireless Access solution to Dunton. The provider is now capable of serving up to 300 homes and businesses with superfast broadband entirely wirelessly.

A transmitter situated at Saxon Pool & Leisure Centre in nearby Biggleswade, beams the connection directly from the Virgin Media network to a receiver on the tower of St Mary Magdalene church in Dunton. Broadband is then distributed throughout the village via eight smaller transmitters, also attached to the church.

This collaboration extends beyond Virgin to the local authority, Central Bedfordshire Council and the church itself, with help from the Diocese, Historic England and ultimately the Parochial Church Council.

MP for North East Bedfordshire, Alistair Burt, will visit Dunton on Friday to meet with residents to discuss the success of the roll out and the positive impact is it having on the community and local businesses.

Voneus Sales Director, Gary Day, comments: “It was a pleasure to work on such an innovative project. St Mary Magdalene Church has been the focal of community life in Dunton for centuries, and it’s great to see the tower now playing a vital role in providing the village with superfast broadband connectivity to the wider global community”.

Independent Central Bedfordshire Councillor, Adam Zerny, said: “Getting superfast broadband to Dunton has been a real triumph of people power. The Dunton Broadband Group found a determined and effective broadband installer in Voneus and the company have moved mountains to get the village connected”.