Openreach Scoop Suffolk’s Phase 3 Superfast Broadband Rollout

Openreach (BT) has today announced that they will deliver “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) coverage to an additional 5,000 homes and 550 businesses in Suffolk UK (mostly rural areas) after securing the contract for Phase 3 of the state aid supported Better Broadband for Suffolk (BBS) project, which we assume will use FTTP.

At present the existing £64m state aid supported Better Broadband for Suffolk (BBS) project with BT, which is based off the Building Digital UK framework, has already put “superfast” speeds of 24Mbps+ within reach of 96% of homes and businesses within the county. The existing contracts should take this to 98% of local premises by the end of 2020.

The procurement process for their follow-on Phase 3 contract (aimed at the final 2% of premises) began last year (here) and a final decision on the outcome of this was made earlier this year, although the final plan has only just been confirmed today.

In terms of funding, the press release doesn’t state any, but previous meetings mentioned £10m of gainshare (clawback) funding from BT, which is effectively a reinvestment of previous public funding that was put toward the earlier contracts (i.e. public money gets returned as take-up in related areas rises). But we also know that £1.725m from DEFRA will be included and a previous update put the total pot at c.£15m.

Matthew Hicks, Leader of Suffolk County Council, said:

“It is incredible to think that over 100,000 homes and businesses in Suffolk are now using Superfast Broadband as a result of this project. Faster and more reliable broadband is more important now with many of us using digital devices to stay in contact with family and friends or working from home. As Suffolk, and the rest of the UK, begin to move into the recovery phase – Superfast Broadband will continue to play a crucial role. To find out if Superfast Broadband is available in your area please contact your service provider or visit the Better Broadband for Suffolk website.

Our ambition has always been, and will always be, to achieve total Superfast Broadband coverage across Suffolk. With the contract now being signed on the third phase of the programme, we are closer to realising that goal. This will mean that some of the most rural and hard to reach premises in Suffolk will enjoy equal or faster speeds than some major cities and towns across the UK.”

Laura Whelan, Openreach’s Regional Director (East of England), said:

“We’ve already made a great deal of progress across Suffolk, making faster broadband available to thousands for the first time. We know there is more to do connecting up the most remote areas, and that’s why we’re delighted to be working with Suffolk County Council on extending that reach even further. Openreach has an important role within the East of England, with more than 3,400 of our people living and working here. We’ve also recently announced a great deal of work to build full fibre in some of the most ‘hard to reach’ rural areas, including Bungay, Saxmundham and Kentford.”

Matt Warman MP, Minister for Digital Infrastructure, said:

“We’ve invested almost £30 million into this project to deliver faster broadband to rural homes and businesses across Suffolk. I am pleased so many people have taken up superfast and full fibre internet connections for the economic and social benefits they bring.

But there are more homes to connect in Suffolk and across the UK, so we have pledged a further £5 billion to make sure people in hard-to-reach areas get the high-quality broadband they deserve.”

Apparently the Phase 3 deployment will begin as soon as the current Phase 2 contract completes at the end of this year, with completion on Phase 3 then being expected to follow by September 2022. In theory Phase 3 could push local coverage of superfast broadband to nearly universal levels.