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.