BT chief executive Gavin Patterson today pledged the telecommunications giant would work to ensure the rollout of superfast broadband reaches every community in Cumbria.

BT expect that the 93 per cent of premises will have superfast broadband by the end of the year, but its CEO has issued an open letter to say it wanted to team up with rural communities to ensure the rollout reaches everyone.

Mr Patterson said: “A great deal has already been achieved in Cumbria thanks to the multi million pound Connecting Cumbria partnership between Cumbria County Council along with six district councils, BT and the government.

“Around 200,000 premises in the county can now access fibre broadband as a result of the partnership and BT’s own commercial rollout of this exciting technology.

“And the number of homes and businesses able to get fibre is growing rapidly. By the end of the year, Cumbria coverage is expected to have reached the 93 per cent mark.”

However, there are still seven per cent of homes in the area that are not scheduled to receive superfast broadband speeds and the firm believes that working with these communities provides the answer.

Mr Patterson said: “We’ve just announced our commitment to work with communities to find a fibre solution and have set up a community fibre partnership scheme to enable this.

“Our strong ambition is to never to say 'no' and rather to work together until we have agreed a suitable and affordable option. Indeed, we've already worked with 90 UK communities where local people have got together and pooled their funds with our contribution.

“These include Fell End here in Cumbria, where the result has been almost 60 properties able to access fibre optic connections.”

Bill Murphy, managing director of next generation access for BT, said: “The community of Fell End blazed a trail for fibre broadband for remote communities across the UK.

“We have around 90 of these schemes on the go already around the UK. Communities who want to work with us to bring this truly transformational technology to their homes and businesses should sign up on the new website today and we will do everything we can to help them.”