Superfast Broadband in East Riding Set to Reach 2,200 Extra Premises

A reinvestment of £6 million into the on-going Broadband East Riding project in Yorkshire (England) will enable Openreach (BT) to extend their existing FTTC, FTTP and FTTRN rollout of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) in the region to an additional 2,200 homes and businesses.

At present nearly 90% of premises in the East Riding of Yorkshire area can already access superfast capable broadband lines (coverage for 46,535 out of 47,332 contracted premises under Phase 1 and 2 has already been completed) and the existing rollout is expected to continue until the end of 2017.

The good news is that a further 2,200 premises across more than 50 villages and towns now look set to benefit from an extension to this deployment. This is being funded by a reinvestment of £6 million that has come about due to strong take-up and efficiency savings under the existing contract (note: take-up in areas that have upgraded via Phase 1 is 41.9% and 26% for the younger Phase 2).

The Government’s Broadband Delivery UK projects require Openreach (BT) to return part of the public investment to local authorities as local take-up rises, which can then be reinvested in order to make further coverage and service improvements.

Councillor Jonathan Owen said:

“The council welcomes the news that even more homes and businesses in the East Riding will benefit from superfast broadband, but we know that there is still more to do.

Good, reliable internet connection is vitally important to many aspects of modern life, whether that be keeping in contact with family and friends or for businesses to remain competitive and provide timely services and products for customers.

As the switchover to superfast is not automatic, the council strongly advises people to check their postcode at broadband.eastriding.gov.uk to identify if they are eligible to switch over and to then shop around for the best deal with an internet service provider of their choice.”

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

“The Broadband East Riding programme continues at pace and we are more determined than ever to improve broadband speeds as widely as possible across the East Riding. By using a variety of solutions and innovative technologies we can ensure that superfast broadband reaches many small and rural communities who would otherwise be unable to benefit.”

The announcement notes that around 400 premises within the intervention area have already benefitted from Openreach’s “ultrafast broadband” capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology, while the majority have been reached using their slower ‘up to’ 80Mbps hybrid fibre FTTC (VDSL2). However FTTP is “set to be boosted as this programme reaches more communities where FTTC is not suitable.”

One particularly interesting aspect of this update is the confirmation that Openreach will also be deploying some of their niche Fibre-to-the-Remote-Node (FTTrN) broadband technology, which is similar to FTTC except the fibre optic cable is run to a much smaller “remote node” box instead of a main street cabinet (this can be positioned on nearby telegraph poles or inside manholes, bringing it much closer to premises).

We rarely see this being deployed due to cost and related issues with the power supply, but it does occasionally crop up.

Communities in the further roll-out
Atwick
Bewholme
Brandesburton
Bridlington
Carnaby
East Garton
Eastrington
Elstronwick
Gowdall
Grindale
Halsham
Hayton
Hollym
Holme-upon-Spalding-Moor
Howden
Humbleton
Hutton Cranswick
Kilpin
Laxton
Londesborough
Melbourne
Nunburnholme
Patrington
Rimswell
Roos
Skipsea
Snaith and Cowick
South Cliffe
Sutton upon Derwent
Thornton
Warter
Withernsea
Yapham