While Cumbria ponders - North Yorkshire launches broadband revolution

Last updated at 12:00, Wednesday, 18 July 2012

While Cumbria continues to ponder its superfast broadband project North Yorkshire announced yesterday that is ready to embark on its £70m broadband investment.

North Yorkshire and Cumbria were among the four pilot areas chosen by the Government to receive a broadband subsidy in October 2010, but North Yorkshire is the first to start installation.

BT was yesterday named as the provider who help most of the 365,000 businesses and domestic users in North Yorkshire get superfast broadband.

Work on the fibre-optic underground cable network will start immediately and be 90 per cent complete by 2014.

Meanwhile the Cumbrian project has been hit by repeated delays and last month the county council rejected tenders from both BT and Fujitsu to deliver superfast broadband. Fujitsu then pulled out of negotiations, leaving the council to decide in September whether to go ahead with BT.

The project will mean 90 per cent of North Yorkshire's 365,000 homes and business premises will have access to broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps by the end of 2014.

The remaining 10 per cent of premises will also see a speed uplift as the project aims to deliver 2Mbps or more by the end of 2014 to all homes and businesses. BT will also look to work with communities in the final 10 per cent to see if fibre can be extended further through innovative collaborative projects.

Speeds of up to 330Mbps will also be deployed in certain areas and made available 'on demand' if businesses want to upgrade to even faster speeds .

In October 2010 Chancellor George Osborne named North Yorkshire, along with Cumbria, Herefordshire, and the Highlands and Islands, as pilot areas for rural superfast broadband networks.

Bill Murphy, Managing Director, Next Generation Access, BT, said: “It is fantastic to see North Yorkshire be the first BDUK pilot to cross the finishing line.

“The race to provide the UK with the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015 is still very much on, and we’re looking forward to working with other local authorities and regions to bring the economic benefits of high speed broadband to businesses and communities everywhere.”

First published at 09:18, Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Published by http://www.in-cumbria.com