BT Fibre Broadband Coverage in Cornwall Hits 85% Milestone

The finish line is now in sight after the £132m Superfast Cornwall project in England revealed that BT’s “high-speed fibre optic broadband” (FTTC/P) network had now “reached” 85% of Cornish homes and businesses, which means that they’re on-track to achieve the 95% coverage goal by the end of 2014.

At present over 207,000+ premises are being served by the new network, which requires BT to deploy 130,000km of fibre optic cable throughout the area. The latest update also reveals that the service has been adopted by 41,000 customers, which by our count is roughly double what it was last March 2013 and represents a good level of take-up.

It’s worth pointing out that the project originally aimed to roll-out BT’s network to “at least” 80% of homes and businesses in Cornwall, including the Isles of Scilly, but this was last year expanded to the new figure of 95%.

The scheme is a partnership between the European Union, BT and Cornwall Council that was launched in 2010. The funding balance represents £78.5m from BT and up to £53.5m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).