BDUK Project Brings Superfast Broadband to 1,908,725 Extra UK Premises

The Government’s national Broadband Delivery UK programme, which aims to make fixed line superfast broadband speeds (24Mbps+) available to 90% of the population by 2016 and 95% by 2017, has now made the service available to a total of 1,908,725 additional homes and businesses (premises passed for December 2014).

The figures below typically represent premises that wouldn’t otherwise have been upgraded as part of BT or Virgin Media’s separate commercial roll-outs of related superfast broadband technologies (in reality many might still have benefitted, albeit at a considerably slower pace).

According to the update, today’s figures represent “superfast” (greater than 24Mbps) capable premises in “intervention areas“, as opposed to an overall total of those merely reached by a NGA capable “fibre broadband” network (i.e. premises that have been upgraded, but which only receive sub-24Mbps, are not included).

Overall the BDUK grants to Local Authorities, including budget transfers to devolved administrations (Wales, Scotland etc.), amounted to a cumulative £252,084,918 in cash terms up to the end of December 2014.

The update claims that this equates to 7,572 premises covered per £million of BDUK expenditure so far, although this figure will of course vary as the programme progresses (especially when it pushes into more rural areas where it costs more to reach the same number of people).

It’s worth reading these figures alongside the related take-up data (here).