BT Set to Secure GBP40m Superfast Broadband Contract for Suffolk UK

The Suffolk County Council (SCC) is widely expected to name BT as the winner of its regional superfast broadband roll-out contract (Local Broadband Plan) after the operators only rival in the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) process, Fujitsu UK, pulled out from bidding.. again.

The Better Broadband For Suffolk strategy aims to make superfast internet download speeds of greater than 20Mbps (Megabits per second) available to most premises (85-90%) by 2015, with the remaining 10-15% also getting a “significant improvement” in speeds (2Mbps – 20Mbps) by 2015 from interim solutions (e.g. fixed wireless broadband). But its ultimate goal is for everyone in the region to have access to speeds of 100Mbps by 2020.

According to EDP24, the winner of this contract was due to be announced next Monday but it now looks almost certain to be BT after a Fujitsu spokesman confirmed over the weekend that “we are not bidding for the Suffolk contract.” The move will hardly come as much of a surprise, especially with Suffolk’s plan being so focused on BT-friendly FTTC and FTTP technologies.

Overall SCC hopes to spend around £15 Million from the government to improve broadband in the region and has also put aside £10 Million from its own coffers, which is expected to be roughly matched by investment from BT. Final funding details and targets will be revealed next week, which we hope will also update Suffolk’s 20Mbps+ figure for superfast to match the government’s 24Mbps+ definition.

Last week the government categorised future IT and telecoms contracts from Fujitsu UK as “high risk” (here), although this fails to reflect wider problems and concerns with the BDUK process itself.