Thousands more homes & businesses across Yorkshire & the Humber in line for a super-fast broadband boost

BT reveals 153,000 premises in Yorkshire and the Humber are set for fibre upgrade

BT today announced a further major investment in Yorkshire and the Humber, pledging to roll-out its £2.5 billion high-speed fibre broadband network to 153,000 more homes and businesses.

The 18 latest communities to benefit, including Acomb, Batley, Huddersfield, Queensbury, Penistone and Aston Common, are due to be upgraded in 2013. A full list of the communities is provided at the end of this news release.

The latest investment will take the total number of homes and businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber able to connect to the fibre network to more than one million. More than 860,000 already have access in upgraded areas, including York, Bridlington, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Doncaster and Driffield and BT is keen to bring more communities within reach by working with the public sector.

John Anderson, BT regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Fibre broadband opens up a whole new, high speed world. This latest major investment will help the region to overcome the current economic challenges and take full advantage of the upturn when it comes.

“Digital technology is fundamental to how we live and work – and in an increasingly connected world, high-speed communications will become even more essential in the years ahead. Research suggests fibre broadband could give a £143 million boost to a typical town’s economy and create 225 new jobs and 140 new businesses within 15 years. ¹

“The fibre broadband network we’re building today will underpin the local economy for many years to come – and we’re keen to go further, working with the public sector to take technology to places outside current commercial roll-out plans.  

“The arrival of fibre broadband in each of these new locations will revolutionise the way people use the internet for work, education and connecting with public services.”

BT’s local network business Openreach is making fibre broadband available to around two-thirds of UK homes and businesses on a commercial basis by the end of 2014² using a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies. More than 11 million premises can already access fibre broadband and that number is growing all the time.

Both technologies offer speeds many times faster than the current UK average, reported by the regulator Ofcom to be 9Mbps. FTTC, where fibre is delivered to new street cabinets, offers download speeds of up to 80Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps³.

FTTP, where fibre runs all the way to homes and businesses, offers a variety of download speeds with the current top speed being 330Mbps³. From Spring 2013 BT aims to make speeds of 330Mbps³ available on demand in any area where FTTC has been deployed⁴.

Internet users with a fibre broadband connection can do much more online, all at the same time. A family can download a movie, watch a TV replay service, surf the net and play games online simultaneously. A whole album can be downloaded in less than 30 seconds and a feature length HD movie in less than 10 minutes, whilst high-resolution photos can be uploaded to Facebook in seconds.

The upload speeds are the fastest widely available to consumers in the UK, with large video and data files being sent almost instantly and hi-resolution photos posted online in seconds. And high quality voice and video calls mean businesses can keep in touch with customers while they cut down on travel.

For further information on Openreach’s fibre broadband programme visit www.superfast-openreach.co.uk  

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