Greater Manchester to get BT superfast broadband boost

A further 39,000 homes and businesses in Greater Manchester will have access to superfast broadband by the end of March 2016, thanks to a new 15 million project.

The area is already the focus of an ongoing commercial fibre broadband deployment, headed up by BT, which aims to bring fibre broadband to nearly one million premises by the end of Spring 2014.

The latest part of the deployment is being overseen by local councils in Stockport, Bolton, Wigan, Bury, Tameside, Oldham, Trafford and Rochdale, who have enlisted BT to build out this new fibre broadband network.

The telco has agreed to stump up 4.6 million towards the project's costs in non-commercial areas, while the councils will contribute 2.5 million.

A further 3 million for the project has been contributed by the Government's Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) fund, while the European Regional Development Fund which finances initiatives aimed at stimulating economic development is coughing up 5 million.

It is claimed the project could provide Greater Manchester with an 80 million investment boost and create around 500 new jobs.

Bill Murphy, BT's managing director of next generation access, said access to high-speed broadband services is a major consideration for businesses when setting up shop.

"Fibre broadband opens up a whole raft of leading edge software applications that will benefit businesses allowing them to work more efficiently, enabling people to work when and where they want to, as well as expanding their business offerings and connecting with customers, not just locally but all over the world," said Murphy.

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said the project was "fantastic news" for people with homes and businesses in Greater Manchester.

"The UK already does more business online than any other European country, and widespread access to superfast speeds will provide a tremendous boost to the economies of all eight local authority areas involved," said Vaizey.