7500 more North Yorkshire homes and businesses get faster broadband

Three more communities now benefiting from roll-out programme; 

Superfast North Yorkshire welcomes new development

BT announced today that faster broadband is now available to a further 7,500 homes and businesses in North Yorkshire.

Loftus, Dunnington and Settle are the latest three communities in the county to benefit from upgrades as part of the roll-out of BT’s enhanced broadband service delivered over copper lines.

The BT investment will make available download speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps) – more than double the fastest speed previously available from BT.

The faster broadband is already available to more than 50 locations across North Yorkshire. By next Spring, 90 per cent of homes and businesses across Yorkshire and the Humber will be served by an exchange which has been upgraded to deliver these higher speeds. The new service is available on an open, wholesale basis to all companies providing broadband*.

Councillor Carl Les, chairman of superfast North Yorkshire, said: “This is great news from BT. I really welcome the news that another 7,500 homes and businesses in North Yorkshire are now able to take advantage of a technology which will play a key role in our economic growth and future development.

“More than ever, high speed communications are crucial in the fast-moving and changing world that we work and live in and I’m looking forward to the benefits this faster broadband will bring to the County.”

John Anderson, BT regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Faster broadband will deliver important benefits for people across North Yorkshire, whether they are running a business, working or studying from home, doing the weekly shop online, downloading films and TV programmes or keeping in touch with friends and family around the world. It can all be done better using faster broadband.

“That’s why BT is determined to bring faster speeds to as many homes and businesses as possible.”

This investment in the copper network is in addition to BT’s £2.5 billion roll-out of fibre-based broadband, which will bring even faster speeds to around two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014.
It is also in addition to the roll-out of fibre broadband in the county by Superfast North Yorkshire, an ambitious partnership between North Yorkshire County Council and BT aiming to make world class broadband speeds available to 90 per cent of North Yorkshire homes and businesses by the end of 2014.

ENDS

North Yorkshire is the first county in the UK successfully to deploy Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds. This, alongside ERDF1 funding, will be used to extend the roll-out of fibre broadband across the county. The project will reach those areas outside of BT’s commercial roll-out using a partnership approach to ensure all communities have access to the fastest possible broadband speeds.

For further information about this news release please contact Amy Walker in the BT Regional press office on 0800 085 0660. All our news releases can be read at www.bt.com/news

Note to Editors
*Once an exchange area has been upgraded for next generation broadband, some service providers automatically upgrade their customers to the enhanced broadband service. People should contact their chosen service provider for more information about the products and services they offer.