“Fibre Broadband” Set to Cover 3,000 Extra Premises in Merseyside

The joint Merseyside Connected project with Openreach (BT) has today announced that an additional 3,000 homes and businesses in the region will be put within reach of an FTTC/P based “fibre broadband” network by the end of 2018, which is thanks to a £2 million reinvestment (clawback) boost.

The original contract, which was supported by £5.46m from the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme, £6m from BT and £4.4m from Europe (ERDF), already claims to have helped make faster “fibre broadband” services available to nearly 98% of local premises (i.e. around 90% within reach of “superfast” 24Mbps+ speeds). The project also reflects a partnership of five councils led by Liverpool City Council.

As a result of this work an additional 60,000 premises (via 495 new street cabinets) have so far been put within reach of the faster connectivity and today’s announcement reveals that local take-up in related areas has now hit 25%+, which under the contract means that BT must return £2 million (gainshare / clawback) of the original public investment in order to help further improve coverage.

Councillor Gary Millar, Assistant Mayor, said:

“Under its initial contract with BT, the Merseyside Connected programme receives a refund if take-up reaches a certain point. As this has been achieved, the money will be used to extend the network to areas previously outside the planned coverage area which is great news.

Investing public money in fibre broadband helps sustain our rural communities and maintains Merseyside’s competitive edge as a business destination. It also allows homeowners to do things that need a faster internet connection like accessing skills and learning, entertainment and other social connections.”

Tony Morgan, BT’s Programme Director, said:

“BT is committed to rolling out this transformational technology as far as possible and already, more than 97 per cent of homes and businesses across the county are now able to access fibre broadband.”

The extended roll-out is due to start this year and looks set to benefit areas including Knowsley Business Park, Liverpool and Sefton Docks, Birkenhead Waterfront, Wirral Waters, Wirral International Business Park, Haydock, Bootle Office Quarter, Stonebridge Cross and Edge Lane.

As usual there is a slight sting in the tail of the stated 3,000 figure because only 1,700 of those will actually be put within reach of 24Mbps+ (“superfast“) speeds and the remaining premises will get below that figure. We also noted that the project’s website has stopped loading.