Buckinghamshire UK Reveals Plan for Phase 2 “Fibre Broadband” Roll-out

The Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) in England has finally revealed their Phase 2 roll-out plan for expanding the availability of “superfast broadband” (24-30Mbps+) in the county, which will work with Openreach (BT) to reach “up to” 11,000 additional premises and achieve 95% coverage by June 2018.

The county of Buckinghamshire forms one half of the Connected Counties project, which also involves Hertfordshire. The joint scheme has already achieved its original Phase 1 coverage goal by expanding “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) coverage to 90% (here).

Since then Hertfordshire has already gone on to set out its own Phase 2 roll-out plan (i.e. it aims to reach 95% in Herts by September 2017 and 98% by June 2018), while Buckinghamshire has been considerably slower to confirm their own Phase 2 intentions.. until now.

The new Phase 2 plan for Buckinghamshire is being supported by an investment of £2 million from three District Councils (Aylesbury Vale, Wycombe and Chiltern) together with the Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP). Buckinghamshire Business First (BBF) and BT are also backing the project.

Michael Garvey, Joint Chairman of the Broadband Project Board, said:

“We are delighted with the news that we are about to commence the next phase of the roll-out of broadband across Buckinghamshire as high speed fibre broadband is essential if local businesses are to remain competitive. As one of the most productive economies in the country we want to continue to provide the conditions for businesses to thrive at the beating heart of the national economy.

High speed broadband is a modern life essential, not a luxury and I’m delighted we’ve made great progress connecting residents and businesses across Buckinghamshire in areas that other providers would otherwise consider uneconomical.

I recognise that there’s more work to do to ensure that every resident and business has access and in the true spirit of partnership working I am delighted that our District colleagues are now joining with us to take this forward and build on the investment already provided by Buckinghamshire County Council.”

The roll-out itself is due to begin during Autumn 2016 when Openreach (BT) is expected to start surveying and planning, with the first homes and businesses then being able to access the service from June 2017 and the completion of this phase by June 2018. The first roll-out areas should be confirmed in due course.

By comparison the original Phase 1 contract in Buckinghamshire alone extended FTTC/P based broadband coverage to 90% of local premises (more than 45,000 homes and businesses), which also required the installation of more than 200 new road-side street cabinets.