BT picked to take superfast broadband contract
THE organisation behind plans to bring superfast broadband to Plymouth has announced the firm set to win the £51million contract.
The Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme, a collaboration involving Plymouth City Council, Somerset and Devon county councils, North Somerset Council, and Torbay Council, has appointed BT as preferred bidder for the provision of superfast broadband across the two counties.
High-speed internet is seen as key to attracting cutting-edge businesses and other investment to the city.
A spokesman for CDS said: "Over the next fortnight, due diligence will be undertaken on the tender.
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"Once this has been completed successfully, the offer will be formally confirmed enabling the final contract details to be agreed."
The programme aims to provide 100 per cent broadband coverage of 2Mbps, with a minimum of 85 per cent superfast broadband at 24Mbps by 2015, and superfast broadband for all by 2020.
The project has secured £31million of funding from the Government agency Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and both Somerset and Devon County Councils will be putting in up to £10million each.
According to Ofcom, almost 18 per cent of premises across both counties are getting less than 2Mbps.
In Somerset, just four per cent of the county can access superfast broadband, while in Devon, with two major cities, that rises to 17 per cent.
It is anticipated a further announcement on the the contract will be made before Christmas.
Comments
by ewan55
Sunday, October 28 2012, 9:26AM
“by m_dalston, Ok maybe I was was being a bit tounge and cheek with th 50 feet bit, however, I live 1.83 miles from my FTC cabinet and BT cannot deliver on their Infinity claims and as I stated my speeds actually went down, full documentary proof available.....
I stand fully by what I said, if you do not live/work within a certain distance of the FTC you will not get the claimed high speed. The whole infrastructure needs a big kick up the p***s to be of fast use to the majority of people, and by the the time BT or others might have done this the technology will have changed.”
by m_dalston
Saturday, October 27 2012, 11:42PM
“Evan55 - you talk nonsense. Our phonelines go through the air for at least 400 yards before they get to the box and we get 40MBit.”
by timplymouth
Saturday, October 27 2012, 11:05PM
“Virgin built everything themselves with their own money. BT inherited the Post Office's infrastructure and tens of millions of customers.
Why would you force Virgin to open up their network?”
by trickybaby
Saturday, October 27 2012, 9:42PM
“I have bt infinity and live in mile house...I have regular speeds of 70meg.....virgin won't open up their network to other users but bt has to ......that's not right...bt gets all the grief but its virgin that are dragging their feet”
by beowulfonline
Saturday, October 27 2012, 5:44PM
“It's typical of the Tory led government to throw peanuts at at a task that needs major spending. Where is their beloved private sector when it comes to innovation and investment? Only interested in giving profits to shareholders and wanting the taxpayers to take the risks as usual. The story of Britain since 1939.”
by beowulfonline
Saturday, October 27 2012, 3:31PM
“That's 3 HK.”
by beowulfonline
Saturday, October 27 2012, 3:24PM
“Laughable really. Why don't we get in the people who give Hong Kong 1 Gigabit?.”
by ewan55
Saturday, October 27 2012, 2:07PM
“I was bombarded by BT to take their Infinity service with a promise of 24.5mb Down and 11.5mb Up, I did, BIG MISTAKE my speeds actually went down (5mb Down and 0.80mb Up) from my ADSL 2 connection, was getting 5mb Down and 1.15mb Up. Lots of visits by engineers followed to no avail.
After 6 weeks of hassle and finally threatening to leave (as BT could not honour their claims) I reverted back to ADSL 2 which is giving me a 9mb Down and 1mb Up.
The upshot is that if you do not live within 50 feet of a Fibre To Cabinet (FTC) you just aint going to get fast speeds. Virgin are just as bad, promise but cannot deliver.”
by timplymouth
Saturday, October 27 2012, 12:39PM
“Indeed but they shouldn't describe it as 'super fast' when it's merely 'adequate'.”
by hstmtu4000
Saturday, October 27 2012, 9:49AM
“Quote "The programme aims to provide 100 per cent broadband coverage of 2Mbps, with a MINIMUM of 85 per cent superfast broadband at 24Mbps by 2015, and superfast broadband for all by 2020.The key word in that phrase is MINIMUM so like the existing BT and Virgin fibre optic broadband networks there will no doubt faster speeds will be available.I get 30Mbps from Virgin and there is 100Mbps if you want to pay for it.
The point is that for those businesses who broadband connection is limited to 2Mbp maximum even a MINIMUM 24bps will be a boon.”