Leicestershire Approve £5.63m Project to Extend Superfast Broadband Cover

The Leicestershire County Council appears to have moved forward with Phase 3 of their on-going Superfast Leicestershire project, which will commit up to £5.633m to extend “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) coverage to the final 3% of local premises (i.e. as many as they can reach).

At present the existing contracts, which are supported by Openreach’s (BT) FTTC and FTTP based “fibre” network, have already helped to extend superfast broadband to an additional 73,000 premises and the aim is to reach another 11,000 by September 2018 (around 97% coverage). We should point out that the total coverage extension for Phase 2 is 19,000 extra premises.

By comparison the new Phase 3 scheme, which could begin its deployment during Autumn 2018, will try to extend further into the final 3% of premises. It’s predicted that, once Phase 2 completes, around 13,000 properties in the county will still be unable to access a superfast broadband connection.

Council Leader, Nick Rushton, said last month:

“The city and county’s economy is on the up, and broadband is an essential driver for further growth, innovation and job creation. Residents and businesses need reliable, fit-for-the-future communications. That’s why we’ve ploughed more than £33m into superfast broadband, and I’m pleased the network is set to grow even further.”

A big chunk of the money for this is actually public investment that will be returned by BT due to strong clawback (high take-up) and underspend from earlier phases of the project. The Authority will aim to follow the OJEU procurement processes for Phase 3 and this has now begun, with a view to contract(s) being signed by the end of March 2018.

However £5.63m is unlikely to be enough to plug the whole of the remaining 13,000 gap. Otherwise anybody who enjoys looking at the boring financial side of things will probably want to take a closer look at this document, which reveals a lot more information about how the Gainshare and other aspects of funding are to be handled.

UPDATE 1:09pm

A related press release has now popped up on BT’s website concerning a £4.4m extension (here), which states that a further 2,000 premises will now be included as part of the current roll-out, although this appears to be part of the existing 97% coverage target (due for completion by September 2018) rather than the above focus on Leicestershire’s final 3% (it’s getting hard to keep track of all these extensions).

Matt Hancock, Minister for Digital, said:

“Superfast broadband is increasingly at the heart of modern life and we are determined to make sure everyone has the fast and reliable connectivity they need. This is great news for Leicestershire and such a strong take-up rate is an inspiration for other parts of the UK. We have already taken superfast broadband to 93 per cent of UK homes and businesses, and I’m delighted that another 2000 premises in Leicestershire will now be included in the rollout.”

Below is a list of areas within each district due to gain new or additional coverage through this extension phase of the roll-out. Not all properties in some of these areas will benefit initially.

Blaby: Earl Shilton, Elmesthorpe, Potters Marston, Sharnford & Wigston Parva
Charnwood: Six Hills & Walton on the Wolds
Harborough: Stretton Hall & Wibtoft
Hinckley and Bosworth: Cadeby, Far Coton, Gopsall, Lindley, Osbaston, Pinwall, Sheepy Magna, Shenton, Snarestone & Wellsborough
Melton: Belvoir, Brooksby, Gaddesby, Little Dalby, Saxelbye & Scalford
North West Leicestershire: Coleorton & Farm Town