Leeds Set To Receive 100mbps Broadband Coverage

Telecommunications firm aql has announced that it will be rolling out a fibre optic service in The Calls area of the city of Leeds with plans to cover the rest of the city within one year.

Although the download speeds offered by the service provider are less than the 1gbps Fibrecity will launch in Bournemouth, aql upload speeds will be the highest in the UK at 20mbps.

The company currently serves around 20,000 customers including some household names and operates a number of exchanges in the country. It also owns a fibre optic link between London and Leeds which allows its clients to transfer content between the two hubs at speeds much higher than the rest of the country.

Adam Beaumont, the Aql's managing director, told Pocket-lint: "This model allows many businesses to get a head start on their competitors, reaping the advantages of high-speed-working long before the delivery of the Digital Britain promise." before adding that "Smart businesses already realise the advantages of not waiting for their mail to download or for a file to transfer".

Faster broadband combined with much cheaper running costs up north means that some companies, especially small and medium businesses, might be looking to relocate.

If other such local schemes are rolled out over the next few years, the Tories scheme to get 100mbps to "most" households by 2017 will surely be met while the Labour's promise to get 2mbps to the entire population might face a few more obstacles.