East Riding in Yorkshire Finishes Phase 1 Rollout of Fibre Broadband

The Broadband East Riding project in Yorkshire (England) has announced the successful completion of their original contract with BT. In other words, an additional 42,000 premises in the area can now access a superfast broadband (24Mbps+) service and work is now underway to reach 95% of the region.

Apparently the first contract (worth £14m, including £4m from BT) has delivered 240 new street cabinet’s via Openreach (BT’s) ‘up to’ 80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) network, which is supported by around 180 miles of underground fibre optic duct.

On top of that some 28% of those in the related Broadband Delivery UK intervention area have signed up, which means that BT will need to return a slice of the public investment through clawback; this can then be used to further improve coverage.

A second £5.4m extension contract has already been signed that should expand the coverage to another 4,500 premises by the end of 2017.

Derek Richardson, Openreach’s Local Programme Director, said:

“This is a significant milestone that has been achieved right on schedule thanks to the dedication of the hundreds of engineers who have worked tirelessly on this project.

Superfast broadband opens the doors to countless business, leisure and online education opportunities in the county, boosting the rural economy and supporting thriving local communities.

However, there is still more to do. Work is already underway on the second phase of delivery – with more than 1,000 more homes and businesses in locations such as Wetwang, North Cave and Burton Pidsea already able to access to fibre as a result.”

Mind you it’s not all good news and earlier this month we noted how the local authority would require another £10m in order to deliver 95% coverage of superfast broadband, although there’s no accounting for how much influence the incumbent operator for Hull, KCOM, may have in all this.

Similarly BT’s official press release doesn’t say what % of East Riding can receive superfast speeds, but a quick check via Thinkbroadband’s independent database suggests that the figure is only 70% (well below other parts of the United Kingdom). Sadly the official East Riding project website is pretty useless and doesn’t offer a lot of data.