Rural communities with little or no wireless internet are getting a not likely boost from churches hosting dish antenna.

St Giles Church in rural Essex is what you might expect of a 15th Century parish church.

The stone structure is on a small hill surrounded by acres of green valleys, farms and a smattering of homes. It is right in the middle of the town of Great Maplestead.

Look carefully and you will identify this medieval church has some really contemporary additions.

Perched atop the church tower is a small satellite dish and 4 telecoms transmitters that provide high-speed broadband to around 120 regional homes, which formerly had no or restricted protection.

The antenna was set up 2 years back by a broadband operator that specialises in connecting rural communities to the web.

The church is paid rent for hosting the kit, which has been carefully created and camouflaged so as not mar the visual of the ancient structure.

” Some individuals were worried that we were going to damage the church,” vicar Revd Gay Ellis told Sky News.

” Or that it would keep an eye out of location, or is it right for us as a Church to be doing this sort of thing?

” But the more we got associated with it, and the more individuals understood about it, they understood that this was really part of the Church’s objective. This was a type of ministry.”

The Government has recognised the function that rural parish churches can play in enhancing web and mobile connection.

Some 65% of Anglican churches and 66% of parishes in England are in rural locations and their central village locations and tall spires indicate they are often well positioned to address connection and protection issues.

A brand-new accord in between the Government and the Church of England wishes to enhance the procedure of mobile and broadband operators getting the equipment set up.

The agreement is developed to minimize bureaucracy and red-tape and make it simpler for specific parishes to make their own decisions over the installation.

There is clear guidance to ensure the telecoms facilities does not impact on the character and historic or architectural significance of the church building.

Matt Hancock, Minister for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, stated: “This contract with the Church of England will mean that even a 15th Century building can help make Britain fit for the future, enhancing people’s lives by improving connectivity in some of our hardest-to-reach areas.”

At present, around 5% of UK homes do not have access to superfast broadband, and 10% of the UK does not have trusted smart phone coverage.

That held true in Great Maplestead. However the intro of the antenna on the church tower now implies local residents now have access to web speeds of as much as 40MB/s for both upload and download.

” I’m a photographer and have to send out images to London and get instructions from London via e-mail. It utilized to take 25 to 30 minutes to download a simple PDF so this was really crucial for us.”

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