Hertfordshire UK Details Expanded BT Fibre Broadband Rollout Plans

Last week we confirmed that the Connected Counties project for Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in England had signed a new contract with BT to extend the reach of “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) connectivity beyond the current target of 90% (April 2016). Today we have the first solid details concerning the roll-out plan.

At present the existing Broadband Delivery UK based scheme should benefit 52,500 additional homes and businesses (a total of 734,500 when combined with BT’s separate commercial deployment) and around 24,000 of these have already been completed.

But the new Superfast Extension Programme (SEP) contract will go further, starting in April 2016 it’s envisaged that the first street cabinets for contract two should go live in early 2017 and “fibre broadband” coverage will then increase to 95% of Hertfordshire by December 2017 and finally 98% by 2019 (check out the updated coverage map). At this point 44,000 extra premises will have been put within reach of the service.

The work will be funded by £3.57m from Hertfordshire County Council, £4.07m from BDUK and £500,000 from the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). BT will also be contributing £5.8m to the overall contract. Total SEP contract funding of £13.9 million.

Crucially we don’t yet have any firm details for the Buckinghamshire side of this contract, although it should follow later this year and will be supported by another £5.33m of public funding.