News: Openreach adds Rotherham to Ultrafast Full Fibre Broadband plan

Parts of the Rotherham borough are all set to benefit from Openreach's national upgrade plan, with the majority of premises gaining access to the latest Ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband.

Adding 551 more towns and cities – covering some 5 million homes and businesses – the move is part of the company's £15 billion programme.

Last year Rothbiz reported that Openreach had confirmed that market towns and villages in Rotherham are in for a full fibre boost - with exchanges in Wickersley and Thurcroft set to be upgraded has part of plans to target the UK's hardest to reach "final third."

Openreach has now updated its FTTP plans for Fibre First Towns, Cities and Boroughs and Market Towns and Villages Build Programme.

Openreach’s updated build plan will be fundamental to the UK Government achieving its target of delivering ‘gigabit capable’ broadband to 85% of UK by 2025 and it follows an extended investment commitment by its parent, BT Group – which means the company will now build Full Fibre technology to a total of 25 million premises, including more than six million in the hardest-to-serve parts of the country by the end of 2026.

The maps show that some areas in the south of the borough, such as Waverley, Treeton and Swallownest, are expected to have a full fibre network built by 2024.

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Central areas including Templeborough, the town centre, Eastwood, Moorgate, Herringthorpe, Brinsworth, Catcliffe and Whiston, are expected to have a full fibre network built by 2025.

Over in the east, areas such as Wickersley, Hellaby and Thurcroft, are expected to have a full fibre network built by 2026.

Areas in Rotherham not yet included in Openreach's plans include Swinton, Rawmarsh, Greasbrough, Kimberworth, Dalton, Thrybergh, Maltby, Aston and Dinnington.

Following a competitive tender process, partners Telent Infrastructure Services and MAP Group Ltd, were chosen by Openreach to support the upgrades and will play a crucial role in building the new network to thousands of premises in these locations.

Robert Thorburn, Openreach’s regional director for the North, said: “Nobody in the UK is building full fibre faster, further or at a higher quality than Openreach. We’re reaching more communities than ever and our team of highly-skilled engineers, alongside our build partners, are working hard to deliver some of the fastest and most reliable broadband available anywhere in the world.

“Just last month we announced dozens of rural and hard to reach locations across Yorkshire and the Humber were to benefit, so it’s great that we’re able to reveal another huge broadband boost for the region with these additional locations."

Ric Welsby, Managing Director of Telent Infrastructure Services, said; “We are very pleased to be supporting Openreach in the build of this ultrafast and ultra-reliable full fibre broadband network. The long-term contracts we have been awarded allow us to recruit the people we need to provide an excellent service to Openreach. We have many exciting roles to fill, I would encourage anyone who is interested in working on this important national infrastructure project to visit our website.”

Sarb Singh, Director of Operations, Map Group (UK) Limited, said: "MAP Group (UK) is delighted to be working alongside Openreach. We share a common goal to build the best possible network with the highest quality of service and connectivity to householders and businesses.

"The upgrade will vastly improve download speeds and the quality of video calls and streaming. We are proud to be associated with what is being seen as significant step on the road back to economic recovery after the Covid lockdown."

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News: Broadband boost for borough

Two infrastructure firms have confirmed plans to improve fibre broadband in Rotherham, investing millions in the borough.

CityFibre is well underway to build a full fibre network that will reach almost every home and business in the town.

Meanwhile, Openreach has also outlined plans to make ultra-reliable and gigabit-capable full fibre broadband available to homes and businesses in further parts of the borough.

Rothbiz reported in 2019 that Rotherham was included in the second phase of rollouts extending CityFibre's Gigabit City programme.

The leading designer, builder, owner, and operator of fibre optic infrastructure in UK towns and cities provides an alternative to BT Openreach.

CityFibre has now confirmed a contractor for the £29m investment with Heneghan's starting work in the Kimberworth area.

The full fibre network is not yet live, but once activated, services will be available from an increasing range of broadband providers. Across the UK, CityFibre is already working with launch partner, Vodafone to deliver next generation broadband services, and TalkTalk is expected to join the network soon.

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Cllr. Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council, said: "The CityFibre investment in Rotherham is a huge boost that supports our ambitions to develop a competitive and sustainable economy that builds on our strengths in advance manufacturing and innovation.

"Rotherham has so much going for it as a business location and having the full fibre network makes it the ideal place for any company to grow or locate. Having a full fibre gigabit capable infrastructure will meet the ever increasing digital demands of those living and working in Rotherham now and in the future."

Natalie Ward, city manager for Rotherham at CityFibre, added: "This is such an exciting time for people across Rotherham as work is now underway to build the Full Fibre broadband network which will digitally transform the town. Not only will this bring lightning fast speeds to both households and businesses, it will open up much deeper benefits such as enabling smart home technologies and giving people the freedom to work from home with ease.

"Our £29m investment also supports the innovative business community that helps drive the Rotherham economy. Through the adoption of next generation Full Fibre connectivity, more innovation and productivity will be driven, ultimately giving businesses the platform they need to realise their growth ambitions. Creating a level playing field for local businesses is vital as they seek to compete and sell internationally."

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Targeting 3.2 million premises in the UK's hardest to reach "final third," Openreach has confirmed that market towns and villages are in for a full fibre boost - with exchanges in Wickersley and Thurcroft set to be upgraded.

Robert Thorburn, partnership director in the North of England at Openreach, said: "I'd encourage everyone to check if they can switch to the new technology, and if you can, get in touch with your broadband provider to find out more about the many benefits. "Full fibre" is more reliable and more resilient meaning fewer faults and more predictable, consistent speeds. It is also "future-proof" to easily meet the growing data demands of future technologies."

Last year, Superfast South Yorkshire (SFSY) completed a £27m contract to deliver faster broadband to residents and businesses across South Yorkshire.

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News: £27m broadband contract completes

Superfast South Yorkshire (SFSY) has celebrated the successful completion of a £27m contract to deliver faster broadband to residents and businesses across South Yorkshire.

SFSY is the partnership between the authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield and BT, which secured £28m to improve the region's access to superfast broadband.

Nearly 95,000 businesses and residents can now access superfast speeds as a result of  the programme which is part of the Government's BDUK initiative and based on a gap funded subsidy approach, where the private sector invests alongside a public subsidy to provide broadband to areas where there is not otherwise a viable commercial market.

The upgrades have been well received, with more than half (55,000) of the newly enabled homes and businesses signing up for a service so far.

In addition to the success of the first phase of the roll-out, a second phase will see almost 10,000 more homes and businesses upgraded, with the majority set to benefit from Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology, capable of blistering speeds of up to 1Gbps (Gigabit per second). 1

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Matt Warman, Minister for Digital and Broadband, said: "It is fantastic to see that nearly 95,000 residents and businesses in South Yorkshire are now reaping the benefits of superfast speeds.

"Connectivity is high on the UK Government's agenda. We want to deliver world-class, gigabit-capable broadband across the country as soon as possible and have already committed more than £650m for full fibre roll-out."

Matt Gladstone, Executive Director for Place at Barnsley Council and SFSY project sponsor, added: "It's a real achievement that the first phase of Superfast South Yorkshire has been completed.

"We've seen a real appetite from a significant number of homes and businesses in South Yorkshire, and we expect that more people will want to take advantage of some of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK.

"This will enable communities across South Yorkshire to increase their connectivity and access a range of online services. It's a fantastic project that provides the opportunity for people to be digital first, not only for this generation, but also for generations to come."

The faster speeds are not automatically available when a structure is upgraded. To benefit from faster speeds, businesses and residents first need to check online to see if their area has been upgraded, before getting in touch with their broadband provider to arrange an upgrade.

Robert Thorburn, Openreach partnership director, said: "Openreach has delivered one of biggest feats of civil engineering undertaken in South Yorkshire in recent years.

"The Superfast South Yorkshire team and all the Openreach engineers who have worked alongside them should be very proud of making this happen and for the overall success of the programme so far. Our work in South Yorkshire continues and we look forward to bringing better broadband to thousands more residents and businesses."

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News: Deal done for full fibre broadband

Superfast South Yorkshire (SFSY) has confirmed that it is working with Openreach on a £10m project which aims to make fibre broadband available to as close to 100% coverage as technically possible.

SFSY is the partnership between the authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield and BT, which secured £28m to improve the region's access to superfast broadband.

Phase 2 is targeting another 9,000 homes, providing "ultrafast" connections. New speeds of up to a Gigabit (1Gbps) will be available, 24 times faster than the UK average of 46Mbps. Areas to be connected first include New Lodge in Barnsley, Bessacarr in Doncaster, Sunnyside in Rotherham, and High Green in Sheffield.

SFSY said this week that 98% of Rotherham now has access to fibre broadband.

The project is part of the Government's BDUK initiative which is based on a gap funded subsidy approach, where the private sector invests alongside a public subsidy to provide broadband to areas where there is not otherwise a viable commercial market.

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Matt Gladstone, executive director for place at Barnsley Council and SFSY project sponsor, said: "This is fantastic news for South Yorkshire and confirms our commitment to providing residents and businesses with the opportunity to access the latest technology.

"A lot of fantastic work has already taken place to make high-speed fibre broadband available to thousands of homes and businesses, many for the first time. But we're not finished yet. This next phase will connect people living in areas across the region that don't yet have access to fibre networks. Once installed full fibre will not only provide ultrafast speeds but will also future-proof the network for years to come."

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Robert Thorburn, partnership director in the North for Openreach, added: "We are delighted to have been chosen to take our partnership in South Yorkshire even further. Making sure that homes and businesses across the region have the connectivity they require is vital for the long-term prosperity and economic health of an area. This second phase of work means that thousands of local homes and businesses will soon have access to some of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK."

With detailed planning and survey work already underway the first full fibre connections will be live for 2020. Over 9,000 properties will be fully connected by spring 2021.

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News: BT planning free Wi-Fi for Rotherham town centre

Telecoms giant, BT, looks set to steal a march on Rotherham Council's plans for free Wi-Fi in Rotherham town centre by bringing its phoneboxes into the 21st century.

The InLinkUK from BT service is delivered through a collaborative approach that sees traditional BT phone boxes replaced by new "InLinks" - fully-accessible community structures that can provide free ultrafast Wi-Fi, free UK landline and mobile calls and free mobile device charging.

At no cost to the taxpayer, the structures are paid for by advertising. BT is working with leading UK outdoor advertising company Primesight and urban innovation company Intersection. So far, around 150 InLinks are active in the UK, having been launched in London last year.

Now a series of planning applications have been submitted that would enable BT to replace phoneboxes on Howard Street, College Street and Upper Millgate in the town centre.

Powered by 100% renewable energy, InLinks have two 55" HD digital displays for advertising and are also used for real-time information, such as travel updates and weather forecasts. Each council is also provided with 5% of screen time​ on each InLink to promote and educate. This allocation is equivalent to 438 hours of screen time on each InLink every year.

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Users need to provide an email address to access the free Wi-Fi and so far over 100,000+ users have registered to access speeds that are up to 1 Gb per second within 100 metres. 587,000+ free phone calls have also been made.

Neil Scoresby, general manager for Payphones and InLink at BT, said: "We're really excited by InLinkUK from BT and the popularity of its services, such as free ultrafast Wi-Fi and free calls, show that it's proving a hit with customers as well. We're in discussion with many local councils about installing more InLinks and we're looking forward to rolling out InLinks to more London boroughs and major cities across the UK."

Matt Bird, general manager for InLinkUK, added: "We are making great progress in our journey of creating smart communities, and with the InLinks offering free ultrafast wi-fi and a host of other free digital services, we are well on our way to achieving this in key UK cities."

Rothbiz reported in May that Rotherham Council is developing a free Wi-Fi scheme using a concession contract that would see a private company install superfast and ultrafast broadband equipment in exchange for providing the bidder with exclusive use of council-owned street lights and street furniture for wireless communications.

As well as covering the main town centre shopping district, the proposal would also cover public open spaces such as Clifton Park.

InLink UK website

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News: £6m subsidy for Superfast Broadband phase 2

A £6m contract is on offer to further extend Superfast Broadband across South Yorkshire in order to make fibre broadband available to as close to 100% coverage as technically possible.

Rothbiz reported in June on plans that were being developed for the "white areas" of South Yorkshire that struggle to receive decent broadband speeds.

Superfast South Yorkshire is a partnership between the authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield and BT, which secured £22m to ensure 97.9% of South Yorkshire had access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017. Securing additional funding, plans are in place to reach 98.7% by 2018.

The project is part of the Government's BDUK initiative which is based on a gap funded subsidy approach, where the private sector invests alongside a public subsidy to provide broadband to areas where there is not otherwise a viable commercial market.

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In December, the Government confirmed that universal high speed broadband will be delivered by a regulatory Universal Service Obligation (USO), giving everyone in the UK access to speeds of at least 10 Mbps by 2020. BT had previously offered to deliver universal broadband through a voluntary agreement but this is not being pursued in favour of providing a "legal right" to broadband.

The Chancellor announced at the Autumn Budget that local bodies could start applying for funding from the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) Challenge Fund. The aim of the fund is to help locally led projects across the UK leverage local and commercial investment in full fibre.

South Yorkshire is already targeting the estimated 30,000 premises in South Yorkshire that will be without broadband up to 30 Mbps when phase 1 of the Superfast South Yorkshire project is completed.

The latest tender again shows a gap funding approach as the partners look to procure a wholesale broadband network solution that retail service providers can use to provide business consumers, residential consumers, and public sector organisations with a range of broadband services for the term.

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A new intervention area is being confirmed and the tender document states that the key aims are "to deliver business growth and new jobs, deliver a range of social benefits across its rural and urban communities and support delivery of public services through digital channels."

Successful bidders are expected to provide substantial investment into the broadband network and must declare what investment it is prepared to make before the subsidy is applied.

Rothbiz reported in December that the four South Yorkshire councils and the Sheffield City Region were planning on using £3.5m of National Productivity Investment Funding (the LFF Challenge Fund mentioned above is part of this fund) for the project. It would allow the councils to utilise transport levy savings to fund the financing costs of the £3.5m capital investment in broadband on a cost neutral basis.

Superfast South Yorkshire website

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News: Funding proposal for extending South Yorkshire broadband project

Finance from local authorities is being finalised for a proposal to further extend Superfast Broadband across South Yorkshire.

Rothbiz reported in June on plans that were being developed for the "white areas" of South Yorkshire that struggle to receive decent broadband speeds.


Superfast South Yorkshire is a partnership between the authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield and BT, which secured £22m to ensure 97.9% of South Yorkshire will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017. Securing additional funding, plans are in place to reach 98.7% by 2018.

The project is part of the government's BDUK initiative which is based on a gap funded subsidy approach, where the private sector invests alongside a public subsidy to provide broadband to areas where there is not otherwise a viable commercial market.

Following a review, it is estimated that 30,897 premises in South Yorkshire will be without broadband up to 30MPS when phase 1 ends and now Superfast South Yorkshire intends to conduct a further procurement in respect of the remaining areas without next-generation access (NGA) broadband infrastructure.

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The four South Yorkshire Councils and the Sheffield City Region have identified that a further £4.3m is needed in order to make fibre broadband available to as close to 100% coverage as technically possible.

£800,000 is available from external funding leaving a £3.5m match funding requirement for the South Yorkshire councils to contribute.

Rotherham Council's cabinet is being asked to approve its part of the funding on a basis of it being cost neutral to the Council.

The funding of the proposal revolves around £3.5m of National Product Investment Funding being used by SCR to replace borrowing costs within the existing Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) capital programme and the cost savings released being used to reduce the PTE levy payable by the councils.

The SYPTE works in partnership with the local councils and transport service operators to manage public transport infrastructure, run the local bus, train and tram services and provide walking and cycling routes. Funding comes from the Government and levies from South Yorkshire's four local authorities.

The Government announced the £23 billion National Productivity Investment Fund in the Autumn Statement 2016 to fund infrastructure and innovation projects over the following five years.

The proposal allows the councils to utilise the levy savings to fund the financing costs of the £3.5m capital investment in broadband match funding on a cost neutral basis.

Rotherham Council's share of the levy reduction would be £45,000 which is sufficient to fund the annual financing costs of the Council's £670,000 capital share of the broadband proposal.

In November, the Government announced a £200m Challenge Fund under the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) Programme which aims to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks.

Superfast South Yorkshire website

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News: Former Rotherham Council boss arrested - reports

News broke on Merseyside yesterday that Ged Fitzgerald was reportedly one of four men arrested as part of an inquiry into financial irregularities at Lancashire County Council centred on the authority's joint venture with British Telecom (BT).

Fitzgerald, currently the chief executive of Liverpool Council, held the same position at Rotherham Council between 2001 and 2003.

The Liverpool Echo reports that local police had confirmed that four men had been arrested, not over fraud, but conspiring to pervert the course of justice and intimidating witnesses.

A protracted investigation has been ongoing at Lancashire Police into the Lancashire Council's former "One Connect Ltd" partnership with BT.

Fitzgerald was chief executive of Lancashire Council when the joint venture with BT was set up, similar to the one between Liverpool council and BT, Liverpool Direct (LDL). He was also in place at Rotherham Council when it too unveiled plans for a £150m partnership with BT aimed at revolutionising operations and making efficiency savings council wide.

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Formally known as RBT (Connect) Limited, the partnership was launched in 2003 and took over responsibility for five areas of work on behalf of the Council – ICT, revenues and benefits, HR and payroll, procurement, and Rotherham Connect (a telephone contact centre). The aim was for BT to invest £30m in world-class, leading-edge technology, new business practices, training and better ways of working and for the Council to benefit from £50m of efficiency savings.

Set to last 12 years, the contract was ended early in 2012. The partnerships in Liverpool and Lancashire were also ended early.

A police investigation followed Lancashire Council reporting on payments in excess of £600,000 to the partnership's former chief executive, a lack of governance and audit functions, a shortfall of £6.6m in the achievement of procurement savings and mark ups added to tenders by BT.

In Rotherham, terms and conditions were changed in 2008 and at the time of ending its contract in 2012, Rotherham Council said that there would be no "cost" to the Council of ending the RBT Partnership and that the Council made no payment for getting out of the contract early. The Council did however pay BT for the investments it made in services, financial investments that RBT had been recovering through the charges for the delivery of services and payments that ended sooner than originally envisaged.



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News: 28 South Yorkshire areas to get ultrafast broadband

Superfast South Yorkshire (SFSY) has targeted 28 business locations across the region which will be upgraded to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology - providing ultrafast broadband speeds of up to 300Mbps.

The multimillion project was established with the aim that 97.9% of South Yorkshire will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017.

Developed by a partnership with the leadership of the four partners' authorities in South Yorkshire, alongside the support of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), contracts were signed for a £22m project in 2015. It is part of the government's BDUK initiative which is based on a gap funded subsidy approach, where the private sector invests alongside a public subsidy to provide broadband to areas where there is not otherwise a viable commercial market.

A further £4.8m in additional funding was secured, which will extend the reach of fibre broadband to 99% of South Yorkshire. The phased roll out is now due to complete in 2019.

The project is jointly funded by Sheffield City Region LEP, BDUK, BT and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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With further funding available by BDUK, project bosses agreed that it should be added to and used to support a proposal specifically for the South Yorkshire Enterprise Zones and key strategic business parks.

The work is underway and the first area to benefit was Attercliffe in Sheffield, with premises along Brightside Lane able to access download speeds in excess of 300mpbs.

The new fibre-based network installed by Openreach will be open to all Internet Service Providers. Openreach, BT's local network business, announced last year that it will more than double the speeds available over its ultrafast FTTP network, boosting the maximum download speeds available from 330 megabits per second (Mbps) to up to one gigabit per second (Gbps).

Prominent Enterprise Zones and business parks in Rotherham are set to be included. The Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) is currently listed as "FTTP planning in progress."

The SFSY Connection and Innovation Vouchers Scheme has also recently launched offering vouchers to encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take-up faster digital connectivity, and to further support SMEs to introduce transformational innovations to the business that can improve business performance through faster digital connections. Vouchers will have a maximum value which will be 50% of the actual cost for the connection or innovation provided.

Connection Vouchers will support actual connection costs between £1,000 and £5,000 (voucher values would be between £500 and £2,500) and innovation vouchers support actual innovation costs between £5,000 and £24,999 (voucher values would be between £2,500 and £12,499.50).

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News: Broadband connection vouchers coming back to Sheffield city region

A scheme to encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take-up faster digital connectivity in the Sheffield city region (SCR) is set to be launched soon.

A national Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme ran from December 2013 until October 2015 where up to £3,000 was made available to businesses to help them connect to a broadband service.

Funded via the Government, more than 40,000 SMEs across the UK benefited from the vouchers on a "first come, first served" basis - 7,377 companies in Yorkshire and Humber.

Available in 50 UK cities, Sheffield joined the scheme in April 2015 but the funds were all spent by October 2015.

Now Superfast South Yorkshire is set to launch a similar scheme with the backing of European funding.

Superfast South Yorkshire is a partnership between the authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield and BT, which secured £22m to ensure 97.9% of South Yorkshire will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017.

The "Connection and Innovation Voucher Scheme" across the Sheffield city region will provide vouchers to encourage SMEs to take-up faster digital connectivity (connection vouchers) and / or introduce enhanced ICT systems and / or process that can improve business performance through the faster digital connection (innovation vouchers). The innovation vouchers will only be available in South Yorkshire.

Vouchers will have a maximum value which will be 50% of the actual cost for the connection or innovation provided, excluding VAT.

The scheme is set to launch "early in the New Year."

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Funding has been secured from the England European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

A call was put out in 2015 to allocate £500,000 of ERDF money to a project to encourage a wider use of superfast broadband across SCR businesses and help them use Information and Communication Technology products and services appropriate for their business.

The previous £90m Digital Region project failed in part due to a lack of promotion and the lack of a robust and coherent sales and marketing plan, especially early in the process.

The ERDF call stated: "All existing and potential new businesses in South Yorkshire should be equipped with the knowledge and understanding of what the benefits and opportunities of using digital technology, enabled by superfast broadband, can bring and are encouraged to be creative and innovative in its adoption.

"The current investment in broadband infrastructure across Sheffield City Region will significantly contribute to GVA, the region wishes to realise the benefits and opportunities for business. This will be done by ensuring that the availability of superfast broadband is promoted, that the opportunities for digital transformation and innovation are realised, the benefits are shared and that outcomes for business growth achieved."

Superfast South Yorkshire website

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News: BT want to cut off Rotherham phone boxes

BT are proposing to close 48 phone boxes throughout Rotherham, 12 of which haven't made a single call in the last year.

The company has around 46,000 working public payphone kiosks on the streets of the UK and BT say that six out of ten of their phone boxes are losing them money. This lead to a nationwide programme being launched to reduce the number of phone boxes.

48 are being earmarked for closure, right across the borough, from villages like Wentworth and Harthill to former mining communities like Kiveton Park and Maltby.

A list of the phone boxes proposed for closure can be found here.

When BT announces plans to remove a phone box, it is the local organisation's job to decide whether to use its local veto to object. To do this, they must first ask the views of the local community by carrying out a consultation process.

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Rotherham Council is organising and coordinating consultation responses for the wider community.

This consultation will close at 5pm on November 16 2016. Then the Council will consider all objections received and decide whether to consent or object to BT's proposal.

The Council's consultation said: "The Council will consider any comments received and decide whether to support or decline the proposal by BT to remove each phone box proposed for closure.

"If we receive no objections then we are likely to support the proposal for phone box removal. There will then be a further consultation on this before we make a final decision."

Since 2008, BT has been encouraging communities where their local phone box is not being used by people making phone calls, to preserve it by buying it, with the payphone removed, from the company for just a £1 under the Adopt a Kiosk scheme. This has enabled towns and villages across the land to preserve their own part of Britain's heritage.

Adopt a Kiosk has captured the imagination of people up and down the country and more than 3,500 kiosks have been adopted and transformed into a huge variety of new uses.

Many decommissioned phone boxes have been fitted with life-saving defibrillation machines, others have been turned into art galleries,mini libraries, exhibitions and information centres. One village turned theirs into a one-night-only pub, when their local closed down.

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News: CityFibre launching 1,000 Mbps service in Sheffield city region

CityFibre, the fibre optic network infrastructure specialist providing an alternative to BT Openreach, is launching its Gigabit Cities initiative in the Sheffield city region.

Rothbiz reported in August that the leading designer, builder, owner, and operator of fibre optic infrastructure in UK towns and cities, had signed a launch partner agreement with Exa Networks and that the focus would be on the company's network in Sheffield but would also bring the benefits of gigabit (1,000 megabits per second / Mbps) connectivity to schools and businesses in Doncaster and Rotherham.

The network, which spans 110km, will provide local businesses with some of the fastest download and upload speeds in the world and is set to improve productivity and provide a significant competitive advantage. Fix Britain's Internet Campaign estimated that the SCR's business community currently struggle with slow speeds of only 18.36 Mbps on average. Previous Government-funded projects had to miss out Sheffield city centre after the contracting body, BDUK, identified that it is not eligible for inclusion.

The Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotheram Gigabit City projects are being delivered in partnership with Exa Networks, an established telecoms provider based in Yorkshire who have been delivering high quality internet services to schools and businesses for over a decade. Exa Networks is already delivering ultra-fast connectivity across CityFibre's networks in Bradford and Leeds. Exa Networks' internet service for business is called DarkLight and basic connection packages range from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps.

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Rob Hamlin, commercial director at CityFibre, said: "We're delighted to be expanding our partnership with Exa Networks to offer world-class digital infrastructure to Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham. The region has a rich industrial heritage but has in recent years seen huge growth in the digital sector; these businesses require gigabit speed internet connectivity to compete and succeed in an ever changing digital world."

Mark Cowgill, co-founder of Exa Networks, added: "By using CityFibre's pure fibre infrastructure we are able to offer customers in the Sheffield City Region a world class connectivity service. Having worked with CityFibre across the Leeds and Bradford network, we're really looking forward to expanding our service offering across Yorkshire.

"As a UK leader in providing internet services to the education sector, we understand the crucial importance of ultra-fast connectivity in our schools as well as our businesses and anticipate a huge demand for increased bandwidth in both the education and business communities of Sheffield."

The estimated live date is November/December 2016 and a number of launch events are scheduled to take place in November.

Fibre connectivity has been improving since BT bagged a contract with the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership for the £28m Superfast South Yorkshire project as part of the government's BDUK initiative. Local and Government match funding should ensure that 97.9% of South Yorkshire will have access to superfast broadband (speeds of greater than 24 Mbps) by the end of 2017.

With further funding made available by BDUK, more than 30 business parks and Enterprise Zones in South Yorkshire, including Dinnington, Hellaby Industrial Estate, Dearne Valley and Gateway Industrial Park, are set to be upgraded to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology - providing ultrafast broadband speeds of up to 300Mbps.

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DarkLight website

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News: DarkLight gigabit internet coming to Rotherham

CityFibre, the fibre optic network infrastructure specialist providing an alternative to BT Openreach, has signed a deal to bring gigabit internet services to Rotherham.

The leading designer, builder, owner, and operator of fibre optic infrastructure in UK towns and cities, has announced the signing of a launch partner agreement with Exa Networks for its acquired networks in the Sheffield city region.

Rothbiz reported in December that CityFibre would be expanding its footprint having arranged a deal to acquire KCOM's national fibre and duct network assets. The AIM-listed firm announced the £90m acquisition at the same time as securing financing of £180m to facilitate the acquisition and fully commercialise its national network.

The latest six-year, £3.3m deal commits Bradford-based ISP, Exa Networks to deliver 250 school and business connections under an existing national framework agreement, focused on the company's network in Sheffield, and also brings the benefits of gigabit (1,000 megabits per second) connectivity to schools and businesses in Doncaster and Rotherham.

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The agreement takes the number of connections sold by CityFibre on the networks acquired from KCOM in January to 1,450, and the value of contracts sold on the assets to £22.1m.

Greg Mesch, chief executive of CityFibre, said: "We're delighted to extend our framework agreement with Exa into Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham. With this latest call-off, we demonstrate our ability to leverage our expanded footprint and drive commercialisation of the acquired assets at pace, bringing ten cities into commercial production within seven months of acquisition close. It also brings us within striking distance of 4,000 connections sold year to date."

CityFibre is the largest independent wholesale provider of fibre infrastructure to mid-sized cities and major towns across the UK, providing gigabit-capable infrastructure for enterprise and public sector organisations, service providers, mobile network operators and businesses.

City-wide pure fibre networks known as "COREs" are being installed in major cities and CityFibre is working in a joint venture with TalkTalk and Sky on Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks and services for homes and businesses. With 15 km of "dark fibre" in Sheffield it partnered with ISP, ASK4.

Exa Networks' internet service for business is called DarkLight and basic connection packages range from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps.

Fibre connectivity has been improving since BT bagged a contract with the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership for the £28m Superfast South Yorkshire project as part of the government's BDUK initiative. Local and Government match funding should ensure that 97.9% of South Yorkshire will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017.

With further funding made available by BDUK, more than 30 business parks and Enterprise Zones in South Yorkshire, including Dinnington, Hellaby Industrial Estate, Dearne Valley and Gateway Industrial Park, are set to be upgraded to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology - providing ultrafast broadband speeds of up to 300Mbps.

CityFibre has joined with the likes of Virgin Media and Zayo (who purchased South Yorkshire assets from the failed Digital Region project) to oppose Ofcom's proposals to allow providers to access BT's "dark fibre" lines.

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DarkLight website

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News: CityFibre's reach extends to Rotherham

CityFibre, the fibre optic network infrastructure specialist providing an alternative to BT Openreach, is expanding its footprint having arranged a deal to acquire KCOM's national fibre and duct network assets.

CityFibre is the largest independent wholesale provider of fibre infrastructure to mid-sized cities and major towns across the UK, providing gigabit-capable infrastructure for enterprise and public sector organisations, service providers, mobile network operators and businesses.


The AIM-listed firm announced the £90m acquisition at the same time as securing financing of £180m to facilitate the acquisition and fully commercialise its national network.

City-wide pure fibre networks known as "COREs" are being installed in major cities and CityFibre is working in a joint venture with TalkTalk and Sky on Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks and services for homes and businesses.

The latest deal, set to complete mid-January 2016, will immediately increase the number of CityFibre's metro footprints to 36 cities and enable CityFibre to target a total of 50 cities by 2020, reaching 20% of the UK market. It will become the largest wholesale infrastructure provider after BT and the first challenger to the national incumbent, nearly ten years to the day since the formation of Openreach.

The firm said that it is extending networks into Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said: "This is the most significant event to take place in the UK's digital infrastructure market in a decade. The UK now has a secure independent infrastructure alternative. Cities, service providers, mobile operators and investors have boldly embraced a new model of future-proof infrastructure provision and paved the way for its acceleration across the country.

"With our enlarged footprint and strong pipeline of cities demanding better infrastructure, we will continue to grow, offering existing and new partners an ever increasing opportunity to capitalise on a pure fibre future."

BT bagged a contract with the Sheffield City Region Local Enterrpise Partnership for the £28m Superfast South Yorkshire project as part of the government's BDUK initiative. Local and Government match funding should ensure that 97.9% of South Yorkshire will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017.

CityFibre recently joined with the likes of Virgin Media and Zayo (who purchased South Yorkshire assets from the failed Digital Region project) to oppose Ofcom's proposals to allow providers to access BT's "dark fibre" lines.

CityFibre website
Superfast South Yorkshire website

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News: Rotherham mirror firm looking to benefit from superfast broadband

Exclusive Mirrors, one of the UK's largest online mirrors stores, is one of the first companies in South Yorkshire to upgrade to superfast fibre broadband deployed by Superfast South Yorkshire.

With a warehouse at Dinnington in Rotherham, the online company is heavily reliant on the speed of its broadband as it uses VOIP phone systems and various cloud based technologies, so was continuously stretching its old broadband connection.

Superfast South Yorkshire has recently installed fibre to the local cabinet delivering speeds of up to 80Mbps, offering opportunities for local business like Exclusive Mirrors to enjoy a faster more reliable broadband service.

Developed by a partnership with the leadership of the four partners' authorities in South Yorkshire, alongside the support of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the Superfast South Yorkshire project is part of the government's BDUK initiative. The aim is to extend the availability of high-speed, fibre broadband to around 98% of homes and businesses in the city region.

The project is jointly funded by the Sheffield City Region, the Government's Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) fund and BT. The total project budget is set to be increased from £22m to £28m, with extra funding to be used to support a proposal specifically for the South Yorkshire Enterprise Zones and key strategic business parks.

Stuart Morgan, director at Exclusive Mirrors, said: "I am delighted with the recent news of the upgrade of my local Dinnington cabinet; we had to use three broadband connections which was a significant annual fee. Now with the superfast fibre broadband I am able to use just one broadband connection saving me nearly £1,000 a year.

"I think the initiatives of Superfast South Yorkshire are opening up fantastic opportunities for local businesses in the Yorkshire area and are allowing us to become more competitive in UK markets and specifically helping us to interact more effectively with our customers."

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News: Superfast switch on in South Yorkshire

Areas of Rotherham are being turned on to high speed fibre broadband as BT finally install new cabinets across most of the borough.

Developed by a partnership with the leadership of the four partners' authorities in South Yorkshire, alongside the support of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the Superfast South Yorkshire project is part of the government's BDUK initiative. Based on a gap funded subsidy approach, the private sector invests alongside a public subsidy to provide broadband to areas where there is not otherwise a viable commercial market.

Due to its involvement in the failed Digital Region project, South Yorkshire is the last in this current round of BDUK, the government project with the goal of delivering a fibre point in every community in the UK by the end of 2015.

BT won the tender for the project and this week engineers were five months ahead of schedule as they installed new cabinets in Dinnington, Canklow, Parkgate and Fitzwilliam Road, bringing the new technology in reach of a further 450 homes and businesses during the first phase of the programme which will complete by the end of this year. In total more than 22,000 homes and businesses in the Rotherham area are set to benefit by the end of the 2017.

Cllr. Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council (pictured, right), said: "Superfast broadband is essential if we are to compete in today's world and without this kind of investment, Rotherham will fall behind other parts of the country who are already developing this infrastructure. Both businesses and individuals need fast communications and a high speed internet to have a chance of success and this investment will play a huge role in that by delivering real economic benefits."

Local councils agreed to fund the project up front in order for the contracts to be signed to meet BDUK deadlines. Rotherham Council's contribution so far includes £1.596m in order to allow a contract to be signed and a contribution to a contingency budget of £124,000 and £112,500 towards the costs of employing staff to manage the provision of superfast broadband to the rest of the region.

The business case for the project is recommended for approval at the next Sheffield City Region Combined Authority meeting where £10.6m from the Sheffield city region investment fund for strategic infrastructure investment (SCRIF) is set to provide the local match funding. The initial bid was for £8m from SCRIF with £8m from BDUK and £7.56m coming from BT. Now the total project budget is set to be increased from £22m to £28m.

The authority had asked for details of the full extent of the market coverage, clarification over the BDUK funding and details of the market's plans for broadband in the region.

Other issues were addressed, including the economic impact of the project, analysis of the demand for broadband, BT's winning bid and whether it offers value for money, and a detailed business plan to provide confidence on delivery of the roll-out programme.

£10.4m has been made available from BDUK and the project delivery team have been actively exploring the opportunities to extend the broadband speeds offered on key business parks and Enterprise Zones to guarantee the best speeds possible. It is proposed that the remaining £2.4m, which is not currently proposed to be used in the core programme, could be used to support a proposal specifically for the South Yorkshire Enterprise Zones and key strategic business parks.

BT has been presented with prioritised lists of business locations for consideration of how the sites can achieve maximum coverage and/or be brought forward in the programme to meet BDUK requirements. BDUK have always necessitated that EZs must be a priority and be early in deployment plans.

Fibre to the cabinet will be the main technology used which can deliver speeds of up to 80Mbps to households. Fibre to the premises technology − delivering ultra fast speeds of up to 330Mbps - will also be used in some areas.

Revised estimates of economic outputs includes low end estimates of 315 net additional jobs and £130m in net additional GVA. Value for money analysis establishes that the total public sector cost per net additional job is £66,722, considerably outside the benchmark range and not value for money. Based on a mid-range figure of 648 net additional jobs, cost per job reduces to £32,434.

The report adds: "The variation in this analysis highlights the difficulty in fully understanding the potential economic benefits of investment in superfast broadband. Whilst the project could represent reasonable value for public investment, the Regional Economic Intelligence Unit observations and this analysis highlight the risk that once completed, the project may not support sufficient economic benefits for Sheffield City Region to demonstrate the value of its investment, and this may point to additional work being needed to promote the benefits of up-take to potential business users beyond simply roll-out of the infrastructure."

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News: Broadband money coming down the line

The £22m project to ensure 97.9% of South Yorkshire will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017, has cleared another hurdle in securing the public money needed to make it happen.


Developed by a partnership with the leadership of the four partners' authorities in South Yorkshire, alongside the support of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the project is part of the government's BDUK initiative which is based on a gap funded subsidy approach, where the private sector invests alongside a public subsidy to provide broadband to areas where there is not otherwise a viable commercial market.

Due to its involvement in the failed Digital Region project, South Yorkshire is the last in this current round of BDUK, the government project with the goal of delivering a fibre point in every community in the UK by the end of 2015.

Rothbiz revealed first that BT's tender for the project was accepted and the councils have already agreed to fund the project in order for the contracts to be signed to meet BDUK deadlines. It is hoped that their share can be met by the LEP's Sheffield city region investment fund for strategic infrastructure investment (SCRIF).

The bid is for £8m from SCRIF with £7.56m coming from BT.

SCRIF brings a range of funding streams together to deliver essential strategic infrastructure to increase economic growth and jobs in the Sheffield city region. The broadband project is making its way through the assessment and prioritisation approach and is concluding "Stage 1A" of its development which tests the commercial viability of a scheme and reviews the deliverability and strategic fit.

Set to be approved this week, the project will then go onto Stage 1B which includes further work to develop a full business case. The Sheffield City Region Combined Authority has asked that this includes a number of conditions that need to be met before a funding agreement is reached. These include details of the full extent of the market coverage, clarification over the BDUK funding and details of the market's plans for broadband in the region.

Other issues to be addressed focus on the economic impact of the project, analysis of the demand for broadband, BT's winning bid and whether it offers value for money, and a detailed business plan to provide confidence on delivery of the roll-out programme.

The later stages of the process for securing the funding include tendering and procurement, but in the case, this is already complete.

The first communities across South Yorkshire can look forward to improved access to online services and better connectivity for businesses from summer 2015 onwards. It is hoped that 20,000 premises will be passed by the end of 2015/16.

Auditors, KPMG recently published a report on the same four councils' involvement in the failed £90m Digital Region project which had many assumptions in the business case that were never close to being realised and no robust and coherent sales and marketing plan, especially early in the process.

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News: Auditors publish review into failed Digital Region project

Key council decisions regarding the failed £90m Digital Region broadband project in South Yorkshire were based on a business case full of assumptions with a lack of a robust sales and marketing plan.

Auditors, KPMG, have published an independent review into the local authority involvement in the project, which was switched off last year, and also found that the business case did not fully show value for money, board members put forward by councils did not include any IT specialists, council reports failed to fully show the importance of achieving rapid take-up of services to the financial success of the project, and that there did not seem to be a clear exit strategy as the project became more problematic and a positive outcome became more unlikely.

Rotherham Council, along with the other three authorities in South Yorkshire joined with the now defunct regional development agency Yorkshire Forward in 2006 to progress plans to bring continuous 25mb+ broadband to over 97% of South Yorkshire. At the time it was clear that BT had no plans to upgrade its own network in the region.

The project was financed by contributions from local authorities and included £30m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Work on installing the Digital Region network started in 2009, and by 2012, completion of phase one of the project saw 80% of homes and businesses within South Yorkshire able to be linked to the network.

A combination of delays in appointing a contractor to build and run the network, failing to adjust as necessary in a fast-moving business sector and zero income risk being allocated to the network operator made the business hopelessly uncompetitive. In 2013, shareholders agreed to halt their search for a private sector partner and begin a managed closure of the fibre optic network.

KPMG was commissioned by the councils to review the whole project cycle, from initial decision to invest to the decision to close the company. It comes after another broadband project was signed off by the same councils which will see BT deliver superfast broadband to 97.9% of South Yorkshire by the end of 2017.

The independent review's observations highlighted that the external reviews of the business case, which was drawn up by external consultants, carried out as part of the original due diligence raised concerns and issues, "which would be expected from such reviews." The business case included assumptions and projections of income that never came close to being realised. The review states: "There were many assumptions in the business case, for example around the technology developments and the financial projections. With the benefit of hindsight, a significant number of these fundamental assumptions were not realistic and did not come to reality."

Another issue was the lack of a robust and coherent sales and marketing plan, especially early in the process. Reports show that Thales, the contractor procured in 2009 to build and operate the network, would also provide sales and marketing services. Thales disputed this and by 2010 contractual notices were issued and Digital Region re-negotiated the contract in 2011 with Thales, reducing costs and transferring sales and marketing responsibility to Digital Region.

KPMG stated that "the lack of a robust sales and marketing plan earlier in the process did not help the Councils and DRL to demonstrate the achievability of the business plan."

When the Government were forced to step in and provide at least 45% of the funding to cover a significant proportion of the repayment of the European grant, it was revealed that Digital Region had only secured 3,000 of the 100,000 customers it needed.

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There is evidence that the aims of the project, including more people accessing high speed broadband, have to some degree been achieved – albeit not necessarily by Digital Region itself.

The key findings from the review report have been accepted by the leaders of the four South Yorkshire local authorities. Meeting minutes state that Sheffield Council admits that it "knowingly entered into considerable commercial risks. However, technological advances, market conditions and delays in obtaining European approvals all contributed to making the project fail commercially."

It adds: "It is true to say that if this project (and many others which Councils consider on a daily basis) were low risk from the outset, then they would likely be delivered by the market without there being a case for public sector intervention. We were trying to make a step change well ahead of a private sector solution and in doing so, knowingly entered into considerable commercial risk."

Assets were sold to Geo Networks, part of the American Zayo Group, and the cost of closing down the network was estimated to be £83m. Costs to date are thought to be lower than the worst case budget.

Rotherham Council set aside £9.58m to cover its share of the costs of the failed project. KPMG identified issues over value for money and a residual audit risk with the arrangements for the closure of Digital Region Ltd in 2014, later concluding that the authority "made proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the closure of Digital Region Ltd."

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News: Councils sign up for BT broadband

Local authorities have signed a contract with BT to deliver superfast broadband to 97.9% of South Yorkshire by the end of 2017.

Developed by a partnership with the leadership of the four partners' authorities in South Yorkshire, alongside the support of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the £22m plan is part of the government's BDUK project which is based on a gap funded subsidy approach, where the private sector invests alongside a public subsidy to provide broadband to areas where there is not otherwise a viable commercial market.

Rothbiz revealed first that BT's tender for the project was accepted. £7.56m is expected to be provided by BT and £7.425m each by South Yorkshire partners and BDUK. Public sector payments will only be made when certain milestones are met.

The councils had to agree to the funding in order for the contracts to be signed but it is hoped that their share can be met by the LEP's Sheffield city region investment fund for strategic infrastructure investment (SCRIF).

Rotherham council's contribution so far includes £1.596m in order to allow a contract to be signed and a contribution to a contingency budget of £124,000 and £112,500 towards the costs of employing staff to manage the provision of superfast broadband to the rest of the region.

Bill Murphy, managing director at BT Group, said: "Superfast broadband is a key part of the present and future success of the whole of South Yorkshire. The technology is vital to modern life whether you are a high-tech start-up or an established family firm in a traditional industry such as manufacturing. It will become even more essential in the increasingly "connected world" of the future.

"Fibre broadband is now becoming essential for consumers too. Existing broadband is struggling to support the growing number of web based devices in the home. All these devices will be competing for the same limited bandwidth, and basic broadband services with slow speeds will increasingly become a major bottleneck."

James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region LEP, added: "I am delighted that the four South Yorkshire authorities have taken this important step towards reinforcing the Sheffield City Region’s reputation as one of the best places in the country to live, work and invest.

"We have heard time and again from businesses that superfast broadband is no longer a "nice to have", but essential to their competitiveness and long term sustainability.

"I would like to extend my thanks to the four authorities for really taking on board the needs of the private sector, and congratulate them on reaching this important deal with BT."

BT were the only bidders for the contract and will be contractually committed to the 97.9% figure, although specific areas and properties are not yet known. The roll-out plans will be announced in the coming months, following a period of surveying and planning. The first communities across South Yorkshire can look forward to improved access to online services and better connectivity for businesses from summer 2015 onwards.

In a bid to boost business, BT's proposed solution is also set to cover approximately 79% of the South Yorkshire business parks and Enterprise Zones put forward as part of the tender exercise. It is estimated that the project could boost the economy by £271.6m. Rotherham Council believes the Rotherham Borough area "will do very well in respect of its Enterprise Zones and business parks, indeed better than the three other South Yorkshire local authority areas."

Due to its involvement in the failed Digital Region project, South Yorkshire is the last in this current round of BDUK. A combination of delays in appointing a contractor to build and run the Digital Region network, failing to adjust as necessary in a fast-moving business sector and zero income risk being allocated to the network operator made the business hopelessly uncompetitive.

With only 3,000 of the 100,000 customers it needed, the remaining shareholders agreed to halt their search for a private sector partner and begin a managed closure of the fibre optic network. The network was switched off on August 14 and assets are being sold to Geo Networks, part of the American Zayo Group.

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News: Rotherham funding approved for BT broadband contract

Councillors have made assurances that Rotherham will get a good deal out of the new £22m superfast broadband project after their decision to approve up front funding came under further scrutiny.

Developed by a partnership with the leadership of the four partners' authorities in South Yorkshire, alongside the support of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the plan is set to enable 97.9% of South Yorkshire to have access to fibre broadband by the end of 2017.

Like other local authorities, Rotherham Council has agreed to underwrite the required local funding contribution of £1.596m in order to allow a contract to be signed with BT in August. It is also set to contribute a contingency budget of £124,000 and £112,500 towards the costs of employing staff to manage the project.

BT were the only bidders for the contract and will be contractually committed to the 97.9% figure, although specific areas and properties are not yet known. The focus is on so called "white areas" that do not have access to next generation (fibre optic) broadband and are not likely to in the next three years.

In a bid to boost business, BT's proposed solution is also set to cover approximately 79% of the South Yorkshire business parks and Enterprise Zones put forward as part of the tender exercise. It is estimated that the project could boost the economy by £271.6m. Rotherham Council believes the Rotherham Borough area "will do very well in respect of its Enterprise Zones and business parks, indeed better than the three other South Yorkshire local authority areas."

The broadband scheme is seeking £8m of funding from the Sheffield city region investment fund for strategic infrastructure investment (SCRIF) but the contract needs to be signed now to meet deadlines set by the Government's BDUK programme.

Opposition councillors wanted BT to cover the costs and wanted more information on the contract - the risks involved and the areas of Rotherham that are set to benefit.

Due to its involvement in the failed Digital Region project, South Yorkshire is the last in this current round of BDUK, the government project with the goal of delivering a fibre point in every community in the UK by the end of 2015. The project timescale "has caused a certain amount of stress which is beyond the control of the four local authorities of South Yorkshire" with the decision on SCRIF, to be made by the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority, not due until November.

Cllr. Ken Wyatt, cabinet member for finance, said: "This project is the second or third highest priority of the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority. All of the technical and financial details have been assessed and the coalition Government's legal experts have completed the due diligence tests. It would be perverse if the SCRIF monies were not ultimately approved to support the project delivery.

"This opportunity cannot be missed to provide broadband connectivity in this City Region and, in turn, stimulate economic growth and job creation. There is no other similar scheme available, because the private sector would not invest in rural areas. The scheme has coalition Government support and therefore we must take advantage of the project."

The remaining funding is set to be shared by BDUK and BT.

Gavin Patterson, chief executive officer at BT, said: "Getting fibre to rural areas is hard, and often complex, work but we are making great progress. Our engineers are busy, from Hampshire to the Highlands, connecting homes and businesses whatever the challenge. We are laying undersea cables to the Outer Hebrides, reaching remote villages in Wales and transforming rural areas across England.

"BT has brought technical expertise to the table as well as hundreds of millions of pounds. Some of the early projects are close to completion and further funds will be released if we come in under budget or take-up exceeds expectations."

Ironically, BT was one of two companies in the running to take over the Digital Region project before the tender process was halted and the decision was made to close down the network. BT was actually shunned in favour of French firm, Bouygues Energies & Services.

Last week, the request by opposition members was not supported and the cabinet decision was endorsed. The tender response from BT will now be accepted and the project will move to contract and delivery.

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