BT Sign GBP27m Contract for Superfast Broadband in Derbyshire UK

BT has today signed another state aid supported £27 million scheme with Derbyshire County Council (DCC), which aims to help expand the coverage of their fibre optic (FTTC/P) based broadband network to reach 95% of local premises by the end of 2016.

As usual the Digital Derbyshire scheme, which will bring the service to an extra 88,000 homes and businesses, is jointly funded by £12.87m from BT, £4.9m from the county council and £7.4m is coming from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office. An extra £2.5m will also be added from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Bill Murphy, BTs MD of Next Generation Access, said:

“Increasingly broadband is at the heart of everything we do – both for work and pleasure and this project will mean a huge step forward for the county as a whole. Small companies dominate the county’s economy with more than 80 per cent employing less than 10 people. In today’s economy a fast and reliable broadband service is vital for their success, and for attracting new inward investment to Derbyshire, which in turn will help to stimulate jobs and growth throughout the county.”

Anne Western, DCC Leader, added:

“Today’s contract signing is without doubt the most important step of the Digital Derbyshire project so far.

Residents and businesses have told us in their thousands that they want a better broadband service in Derbyshire – we’ve listened and are making it happen. A fast and reliable broadband service is as important as good road and rail links for businesses in the modern day and that’s why we’ve made it one of our priorities.

It’s vital that our businesses – including those in rural locations – are at least on a level playing field with other areas of the UK and further afield to be able to maintain and create jobs in a thriving Derbyshire economy.”

BTOpenreach will now begin its usual survey work and the first areas are predicted to be upgraded sometime in 2014 (bit vague). We’ve also once again had to ask BT to clarify whether the 95% figure refers to superfast speeds (25Mbps+) or merely the total reach of their fibre network as it sometimes does (FTTC can deliver speeds from 2Mbps and upwards). Update to follow.