Worcestershire UK Signs £6.2m BT Fibre Broadband Rollout Extension

The £21m Superfast Worcestershire (England) project has signed a second £6.2m Broadband Delivery UK contract with BT that will see the operator push their “high-speed fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) network out to reach an additional 8,000 homes and businesses (95% coverage) by Summer 2018.

At present the existing scheme aims to make the same network available to 90% of local premises by June 2016, which will benefit an additional 55,000 premises (BT has already upgraded around 180,000 via separate commercial investment). So far some 22,000 premises of this target have already been upgraded (uptake among these has been recorded at around 9.3%, albeit based off a lower Dec 2014 coverage figure of 14,000).

By comparison the contract states that the new target will make the service available to 95% of the county by summer 2018, with 94% able to receive “superfast” (24Mbps+) speeds. The contract is yet another one that slips past the current Government’s national “by 2017” goal for 95% coverage of superfast connectivity.

Sander Kristel, Director of Commercial at WCC, said:

“We know that local demand for improved broadband speeds is high. The extension programme will further improve fibre broadband speeds and increase the reach of our coverage. This is great news for residents and businesses. As well as driving business growth, fibre broadband offers new online learning and entertainment opportunities for households. The technology will also support our Digital Council transformation over the next decade.”

Steve Henderson, BT’s Regional Director for Broadband, said:

“This is another important chapter in the development of Worcestershire. Increasingly, the internet is touching our lives in new and innovative ways, whether it’s people working from home or families wanting to connect lots of different devices at the same time – everything is better with high-speed fibre broadband, which is why our project teams are committed to bringing the benefits of this technology to as many communities as possible, as quickly as possible.”

In terms of funding, BT has committed £1.42m to the project and the rest will come from public sources (Local Growth Deal, BDUK, Councils etc.). The anticipated deployment plan for the Phase 2 contract includes parts of Trimpley and Rowney Green, the Lenches and new areas around the Teme Valley as well as parts of Beckford.