Buckinghamshire UK’s Phase 2 “Fibre Broadband” Roll-out Given £800K Boost

A further 2,500 homes and businesses in Buckinghamshire look set to benefit from faster “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) services after the Buckinghamshire County Council and Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP) confirmed an £800,000 funding boost.

The associated Connected Counties project is a joint effort between the local authorities of both Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire (England). So far both counties have worked alongside the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK programme and Openreach (BT) to complete Phase 1 of the roll-out, which last year succeeded in boosting the coverage of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) to 90% of local homes and businesses (here).

Buckinghamshire is now in the process of starting the roll-out phase for their second (Phase 2) extension contract with Openreach (here), which originally aimed to reach “up to” 11,000 additional premises (later revised to 12,500) and hopefully achieve 95% coverage of “superfast broadband” by June 2018.

The good news is that the “great performance in Phase 1 of the roll-out of broadband across the county” has now resulted in a funding boost of £800,000 and that will benefit an additional 2,500 premises in Phase 2, which is on top of the currently planned 12,500. We note that the coverage target for Phase 2 is still unchanged at 95%.

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

“We are delighted with the extension of Phase 2 of the project and with the take up of superfast 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, which is why we continue to push for 100% superfast broadband coverage.”

Martin Tett, Buckinghamshire Council Leader, said:

“No family can access the wide variety of commercial and social sites without a good quality internet connection.”

Apparently the take-up of superfast broadband services within the project area has already risen to the impressive figure of 46%. As such the language used in today’s announcement, which states that the additional funding is a result of the “great performance in Phase 1 of the roll-out,” appears to actually be a reinvestment of existing funding (i.e. the result of clawback and / or savings from phase 1).

Funding of nearly £5 million has been committed towards Phase 2 of the roll-out, which is comprised of £100,000 from Chiltern District Council, £860,000 from Wycombe District Council, £400,000 from Aylesbury Vale District Council, £675,000 from BTVLEP, and BDUK match of £2,035,000, with a “claw-back” element of £399,000 from BTVLEP and £469,000 from Buckinghamshire County Council.