BT Agrees £5.7m BDUK Deal For North And Northeast Lincolnshire

BT has agreed a £5.7 million deal with North and Northeast Lincolnshire to bring fibre to 89 percent of premises across the region by the end of Spring 2015.

BDUK will provide £2.64 million in government funding, while BT will supply £1.5 million with the remaining £1.1557 million coming from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The European funding will be used to enable fibre connections for SMBs, while it is claimed that the up to 80Mbps download speeds and up to 20Mbps upload speeds will improve the local economy and create new jobs.

BDUK Lincolnshire

“This is an important step in the campaign to bring faster broadband speeds to every home, business and school in North and North East Lincs,” said a North Lincolnshire Council spokesperson. “Working with BT we will be announcing the installation schedule in the coming months and communities across the county can look forward to improved access to online services and better connectivity for businesses from 2014 onwards.”

“Superfast broadband will open the doors to countless business opportunities, boosting the rural economy and supporting thriving local communities,” added Bill Murphy, BT’s managing director for Next Generation Access. “This is a large rural area which makes deploying broadband a substantial challenge but a vital one which will help local businesses to be competitive and ensure they remain in the county.

“It can also play an important role in attracting more firms to the county, helping to create jobs for local people.”

The government has made £530 million available as part of BDUK, but it has emerged that just £3 million of this funding has made its way to only two local authorities, and the Department of Culture Media and Sport is understood to be considering an overhaul of the scheme.

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