HIGH-SPEED broadband has finally come to a small Oxfordshire village thanks to a fundraising campaign led by local residents.
Villagers in Islip, near Kidlington, raised more than £11,000 for telecoms giant BT to lay a new fibre-optic cable network that will serve almost everyone in the village.
BT said Islip had not been included in its broadband roll-out plans because it was too economically challenging.
Residents then volunteered to raise the extra money needed to connect the village to the Kidlington telephone exchange instead.
Islip Parish Council chairman Alison Mitchell said: “Due to the distance from the local exchange at Kidlington, our villagers received extremely slow broadband over the existing copper lines.
“We spoke to BT about how we could boost their business case to bring fibre to the cabinet serving the village.
“They worked out what the extra cost would be, and we raised the funds ourselves.”
She added: “The arrival of the new broadband in the village will make a massive difference to our lives.”
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