Durham Sign Extended BT and BDUK “Fibre Broadband” Rollout Contract

The Digital Durham project in England, which includes Gateshead, Tees Valley, Sunderland and currently aims to make BT’s “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) network available to 98% of local premises by September 2016 (96% will get “superfast” speeds of 24Mbps+), has signed a second contract that should push the network coverage near to the magic 100% mark.

At present the existing project, which should help to reach an additional 72,000 homes and businesses that might have otherwise been left without access to faster broadband connectivity, is collectively funded by £19.76 million of public investment and another £6 million from project partner BT.

But last year the Government’s umbrella Broadband Delivery UK scheme, specifically the Phase 2 Superfast Extension Programme (SEP), committed another £6,080,000 to help further improve the reach of superfast broadband connectivity in the area. The new contract also includes North and South Tyneside. Interestingly this should push the project well beyond the Government’s national target of deploying fixed line superfast broadband to 95% by 2017.

According to the projects official Twitter account, the new contract was signed with BT yesterday afternoon, although curiously this signing was not accompanied by a press release to detail precisely what the new deal aims to achieve. We have asked BT to furnish us with some information and they are currently investigating. We hope to update again shortly.

Separately it’s worth pointing out that BT are also deploying some ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) connectivity in certain parts of the intervention area, although the deployment is still broadly dominated by their ‘up to’ 80Mbps Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technology.