ISSUES
: The Internet of Things
Chapter 1: Digital issues
24
Three million more UK homes and
businesses can now get superfast
broadband
New figures show that the rollout of the government-funded superfast broadband has now
reached more than three million homes and businesses.
M
ore than three million
homes and businesses
have been reached by the
Government’s nationwide rollout
of superfast broadband, figures
published today (Wednesday 12
August) reveal.
The rollout is delivering superfast
access – Internet speeds greater
than 24 Mbps – to those properties
not covered by existing commercial
networks and is on track to take
superfast access to 95 per cent of the
UK by 2017. More than four out of five
UK homes and businesses already
have access to superfast speeds,
and the rollout is currently reaching
an additional 40,000 homes and
businesses every week.
This comes following recent news
that BT will make up to £129 million
available to extend the Government-
led rollout of superfast broadband
across the UK.
Culture Secretary John
Whittingdale said:
“Reaching three million properties is
a huge achievement. Our rollout of
superfast broadband is transforming
lives up and down the country as
every day thousands more homes
and businesses are gaining access to
superfast speeds.
“It’s fantastic to see that the rollout of
superfast broadband is now delivering
for customers and for the taxpayer.
The levels of people taking up
superfast broadband in areas where
we invested public money are beyond
our expectations, and BT is now
reimbursing the public purse to deliver
further coverage across the UK. This
now means that BT will be providing
up to £129 million cashback for some
of the most hard to reach areas.”
The additional funding will be made
available to local authorities to reinvest
the money in providing
further
superfast
broadband coverage to
even more homes and
businesses, and much
earlier than originally
planned. The money is
being made available
as a result of a clause in
the contracts BT agreed
with government and
local authorities that
allows the funding BT
has received to be
returned or reinvested
into further coverage if
take-up is better than
the20per cent expected
in BT’s original business
case. The higher take up
rate to date has resulted
in BT making a new business case
assumption of reaching 30 per cent
take-up in these areas.”
The table above sets out the number
of homes and businesses reached by
the rollout of fibre-optic cable in each
geographical area of the UK.
Gavin Patterson, CEO BT
Group, said:
“The UK is making great progress with
fibre broadband. 23 million premises
are covered by BT’s open access
network, with three million of those
enabled under the BDUK programme.
Our Openreach engineers have
worked tirelessly to connect some of
the most remote parts of the UK, from
Shetland and Hebrides to the moors
of southwest England.
“The public have responded by
taking up fibre in large numbers, and
that’s good news for those areas that
haven’t been reached yet. It means
additional funds are being released
which will enable us to go even further
at no extra cost to the taxpayer and
earlier than expected.”
Environment Secretary
Elizabeth Truss said:
“Our continuing investment in
speedier broadband will unleash
the full potential of our countryside –
creating jobs, boosting exports and
improving the quality of life for people
living in rural communities.
By ensuring everyone has access to
the same technology and services
we can boost the productivity of rural
areas, making it as easy to open and
expand a business in some of themost
beautiful parts of our countryside as it
is in our cities.”
12 August 2015
Ö
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from the
Department for Culture, Media
& Sport and The Rt Hon. John
Whittingdale MP.
© Crown copyright 2016
Country/
Region
Home and businesses
reached by fibre (BDUK
projects) as at 31 July 2015
North East
124,299
Yorkshire and the
Humber
295,235
North West
384,667
East Midlands 338,709
West Midlands 220,624
South East
531,093
South West
311,758
East of England 391,095
Scotland
394,177
Wales
482,000
Northern Ireland 41,652
