IT & Telecommunications
driving digital britain
Maidstone is well served by its communications infrastructure. The wholesale market for local broadband services has been deregulated, encouraging competition between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and in March 2010 BT completed the roll out of 21CN (21st Century Networking) to 100% of the Maidstone exchanges, improving internet performance and stimulating new service provision, putting Maidstone ahead of many of its rivals in the south east.
Broadband Service Availability
BT are also rolling out their new fibre optic broadband service (BT Infinity) in Maidstone, with download speeds of up to 40MB in Bearsted and Blue Bell Hill from March 2011. Maidstone already benefits from the following business and consumer broadband services:
| Service Type |
Primary Provider/s |
| ADSL/ADSL Max: |
BT Wholesale |
| SDSL: |
BT Wholesale, a service providing high speed upload as well as download speeds, targeted at businesses with high data or bandwidth requirements (eg teleworkers connecting to a server). |
| LLU services: |
Six ISPs provide independent network services: AOL, O2/Be, C&W Orange, Sky, TalkTalk |
| Cable: |
Virgin Media |
| Wireless: |
Orbital/VFast |
WiMAX Trials
The UK’s first live end- to-end 2.5GHz Mobile WiMAX trials were carried out in Maidstone in 2008, focussing upon public safety, CCTV monitoring, building inspection and workforce mobility. The trial was carried out by Bluenowhere, a member of the Mobile WiMAX Acceleration Group (M-WAG), in collaboration with Maidstone Borough Council and Kent Fire and Rescue Service.
In a 2008 research report commissioned by BT, Enterprise Nation ranked Maidstone among the top 20 UK home-based business hotspots. Continued investment in digital infrastructure will support this important sector of the local economy.
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