Superfast broadband

Updated: February 2021. I was lucky to witness the very first customer installation of superfast fibre broadband associated with the Connecting Cambridgeshire project. The installation itself was very quick, and is captured in the video below (together with before and after speed tests). Thanks to BT Openreach and engineer Ben Williams for allowing me to … Read more

Connecting Cambridgeshire celebrated its first milestone – the first ten fibre street cabinets going live for the project – at a special event in Grafham. Connecting Cambridgeshire has one of the most ambitious objectives among BDUK-related roll-out programmes, aiming to achieve 98% fibre broadband coverage in Cambridgeshire by the end of 2015. In attendance was … Read more

Ofcom has published its 2013 Infrastructure Report Update, with some interesting statistics on the state of broadband in the UK. The report shows that superfast broadband networks are now available to 73% of UK premises, up from 65% in 2012. This is mainly due to BT’s Fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) network, which in June 2013 passed 57% … Read more

A partnership of five councils led by Liverpool City Council has signed a £15.9m contract with BT to make high-speed fibre broadband available to 98% of homes and businesses in Merseyside by the end of July 2016. About 89% of premises should be able to access ‘superfast’ speeds of 24Mbps and above by the end … Read more

Members of the six Berkshire unitary councils leading on the ‘Superfast Berkshire’ project and the Local Enterprise Partnership have signed a contract with BT that will see high-speed fibre broadband becoming available to around 91% of premises across Berkshire by the end of September 2015. The £8.06 million project is receiving £2.03m investment from BDUK, … Read more

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has signed a £14 million deal with BT to bring high-speed fibre broadband to 42,000 premises in the East Riding of Yorkshire by December 2015. The Council has not divulged what percentage of premises this equates to. BT is contributing £4 million towards fibre deployment in “non-commercial” areas, which together … Read more

A £21.96 million contract has been signed between four West Yorkshire local authorities and BT to extend high-speed fibre broadband to 97% of households and businesses “across the majority” of West Yorkshire by the end of autumn 2015. BT is contributing £12.58 million to the project, with the four local authorities contributing £970,000. Alongside this … Read more

A £12 million contract between Milton Keynes Council, Central Bedfordshire Council, Bedford Borough Council  and BT has been signed to bring fibre broadband to 91% of premises in Central Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough and Milton Keynes by spring 2016. Of the 33,000 homes to benefit, about 32,000 of these will benefit from speeds of at least … Read more

Leicestershire County Council has signed a £16.9 million contract with BT to bring fibre broadband to 95% of homes and businesses in Leicestershire by the end of March 2016. Leicestershire County Council is investing £4.1 million as part of the deal, with £3.3 million from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds and £1.23 million … Read more

Essex County Council has signed a deal with BT to extend fibre broadband to around 87% of Essex by the end of summer 2016. This means that Essex will fall significantly behind the original target in Essex of 90% of premises gaining access to superfast speeds by 2015. Essex County Council is committing £6.46m to … Read more

Derbyshire County Council has signed a £27.67 million contract to bring fibre broadband to more than 95% of homes and businesses in Derbyshire by the end of 2016. BT is contributing £12.87m to the project while Derbyshire County Council is contributing £4.9m. A further £7.4m is coming from the Government’s BDUK funds as well as … Read more

Nottinghamshire County Council has signed a £20m contract with BT to extent high-speed fibre broadband to 95% of Nottinghamshire homes and businesses by the end of March 2016. Nottinghamshire County Council is investing £2.5 million and also won a bid for an additional £2.7 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). BDUK is contributing … Read more

Worcestershire County Council has signed a £20m contract to bring superfast broadband (with speeds of 24 Mbps or greater) to 90% of Worcestershire homes and businesses by the end of spring 2014. Worcestershire County Council is contributing up to £8.5 million, with an additional £3.35 million coming from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds. … Read more

Oxfordshire County Council has signed a £25m contract with BT to bring access to superfast broadband speeds of 24 Mbps and above to at least 90% of all premises in Oxfordshire by the end of 2015. The £25m million programme is made up of £10m from the council, £4m from the UK Government and £11m … Read more

On 10th July 2013, Dorset County Council signed a £31.75 million contract with BT to bring fibre broadband to 97% of premises in Dorset within three and a half years. It is expected that 95% of premises will have access to “superfast speeds” of at least 24 Mbps. BT will contribute £12.87 million towards the … Read more

Today, UK Treasury Minister Danny Alexander announced additional government funding for superfast broadband in rural areas. He announced an additional £250 million in funding (which the Goverment expects to be matched by local authorities), to bring fixed superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises by 2017. Taken together with 4G mobile broadband solutions, Danny Alexander … Read more

Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire County Councils have signed an £18.06 million contract with BT, to bring fibre broadband to “more than 90%”of premises in the two counties by the end of March 2016. BT is contributing £8.6 million to the project while Hertfordshire County Council and Buckinghamshire County Council are contributing £1.61 million and £3.7 million, … Read more