East Yorkshire to receive BT superfast broadband boost

East Riding of Yorkshire has embarked on a three-year, multi-million pound superfast broadband deployment deal with telco giant BT.

The Broadband East Riding project will see fibre broadband services rolled out to 42,734 homes and business over the next three years, with promised speeds of 24 Mbps and above.

It also aims to provide the rest of the region with broadband speeds of more than 2Mbps.

Fibre to the Cabinet is expected to be the main technology deployed, and should ensure local residents get access to downstream speeds of 80 Mbps and upstream speeds of up to 20Mbps.

Furthermore, fibre to the premises will also be available in due course, and on demand to any local businesses that want access to ultra-fast broadband services.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council will work with BT, who was awarded the deal through the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) framework, to ensure the project hits its speed and deployment targets.

The telco has agreed to stump up 4 million towards fibre broadband deployments in non-commercial areas.

When further contributions from BT, the council, BDUK and the European Regional Development Fund are taken into account, investment in the project is expected to total 14 million.

In a statement, BT said it will announce the installation schedule for the project in the coming months, with work on it expected to be underway by next summer.

John Skidmore, interim director of corporate strategy and commissioning at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said internet access is an important part of modern life, and an absolute requirement for companies that want to compete and trade.

"The council is committed to improving broadband infrastructure in East Riding to ensure that we do all we can to support businesses, residents and visitors to the area to have access to broadband provision, especially given our largely rural locality, and hope to deliver this over the coming years through the contract with BT," Skidmore said.

Bill Murphy, BT's managing director for Next Generation Access, added: "Faster broadband breaks down the barriers to doing business in the digital world like online trading, which helps to empower small businesses to find new markets, sell new products, try new models and compete on an equal footing with larger businesses."