Broadband

A meeting of Broadband Champions from across Cambridgeshire took place in Alconbury Weald, attended by the Connecting Cambridgeshire team and BT. Noelle Godfrey, Connecting Cambridgeshire Programme Director outlined progress. View our Cambridgeshire superfast broadband page for more information on the event. Noelle announced that the team expects to tell Broadband Champions more in May 2013 about when they will be able to announce the first phases.

You can view answers to the many questions that were asked at the session by clicking on the link below:

Questions and answers for the Cambridgeshire Broadband Champions meeting (Apr 2013)

Today, the contract for superfast broadband across Cambridgeshire was signed, and there is great news!

Cambridgeshire County Council has today, Friday 8th March 2013, signed a contract with BT that exceeds its original ambitious targets to bring better broadband to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. 98% of homes and businesses across the county can expect to have access to fibre-based broadband by the end of 2015. The original target was more than 90% of premises being able to access superfast broadband services (with speeds  of at least 24Mbps).

BT was chosen by the Council following a competitive selection process. The company will contribute £16 million to the £45 million project with the rest of the investment coming from Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council and Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK).

The project was helped by more than 24,000 households and businesses registering for the Connecting Cambridgeshire campaign – making it the most effective in the country – and the fantastic support of over 100 broadband champions. Spaldwick achieved one of the highest registration totals in the county.

The three-year roll-out will begin with a period of planning and detailed surveying. The large-scale project will involve enabling over 100 telephone exchanges and many more cabinets. The Connecting Cambridgeshire team will be working closely with BT, neighbouring authorities, local authority planning teams, broadband champions and local communities to ensure the roll-out is as speedy and efficient as possible.

This is extremely promising for Spaldwick. Spaldwick should be included in the roll-out plans and we hope that this will occur well before the end of 2015. Early deployment would allow us to demonstrate how to achieve high take-up of commercial superfast broadband services – to act as a case study for other rural areas. Roll out plans will be announced in due course and published on this website.

For more information, view our dedicated Cambridgeshire superfast broadband page.

Cambridgeshire County Council has announced that BT has been chosen as the winning bidder to roll out better broadband over the next three years. 

The contract is due to be signed in March 2013, once the procurement process has been completed. Schedules for rolling out the new infrastructure will be drawn up and agreed with BT as soon as possible after the contract signing. We will have an anxious wait to see if Spaldwick is included in the formal roll-out plans to be announced later in 2013! For more information, view our dedicated Cambridgeshire superfast broadband page.

In December 2012, the Connecting Cambridgeshire team announced a slight delay in the superfast broadband procurement process. This is because the remaining bidders were given a small extension to mid-December for their bid submissions to ensure the highest quality bids.

The Cambridgeshire superfast broadband procurement process to appoint a supplier to roll out better broadband across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is on track to conclude in February 2013. As the lead authority, Cambridgeshire County Council Cabinet will be asked to approve the contract award to the preferred supplier at its meeting on Monday 4th February 2013. A public announcement will be made shortly afterwards. The announcement will be reported here.

For more information, view our Cambridgeshire superfast broadband page.