Government Releases UK Town and City Map of Superfast Broadband Availability

The governments Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has just released a new map of UK superfast broadband availability that covers 36 large towns and cities (i.e. those where the number of dwellings exceeds 100,000) across the country.

The map itself (linked at the bottom), which was constructed using data from Ofcom’s Communications Infrastructure Report 2011 and population data from the 2001 census and Local Authorities, is fairly simple and merely displays availability as a percentage.

Sadly it also shows that nobody in Hull or Aberdeen can get superfast connectivity, yet it should be said that KC expects to reach 15,000 homes and businesses in and around Hull with FTTH / FTTC services before the end of 2012 (here). BT also plans to upgrade a couple of exchanges in Aberdeen soon, although it’s taken awhile to get there.

At its release last night the governments Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt MP, described it as “shocking” that “no-one in Hull or Aberdeen can get superfast broadband“. Hunt’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office wants 90% of people to be within reach of a superfast broadband (24Mbps+) service by 2015 (the last 10% will have to suffer at least 2Mbps).

The project has an initial budget of £530m to support this until 2015, although a further £100m has since been added for super-connected cities (here). On top of that another £100 Million was “unlocked” last month via European funding (here). A further £300m could also be extracted from the BBC’s TV Licence Fee (i.e. the 3.5% Digital Switchover Budget) between 2015 and 2017 if absolutely necessary.

Local authorities are currently racing to meet the governments end of February 2012 deadline for submission and approval of their “draft” Local Broadband Plans (LBP). Most will make the target but some won’t (e.g. locations like North Tyneside have effectively already met the target). The final plan then “needs to be agreed” by the end of April 2012 and those that fail could have their funding pulled. A new update is expected soon.

BDUK Google Map of UK Superfast Broadband in 36 Large Towns and Cities
http://g.co/maps/uju5d