Alrewas and Dapple Heath are among the latest communities to benefit as Superfast Staffordshire achieves 60,000 milestone

More than 60,000 homes and businesses across the county are now able to access faster fibre broadband thanks to Superfast Staffordshire, lead partners Staffordshire County Council and BT announced today.

Alrewas and Dapple Heath are among the latest communities to benefit from the multi-million pound roll-out of high-speed fibre broadband, which is part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme.

Staffordshire County Council’s economy leader, Mark Winnington, said: “We are continuing at pace with our Superfast Staffordshire programme roll-out and are now two-thirds of the way towards our target of about 90,000 properties.

“The 60,000 mark is another significant milestone as another wave of communities is now able to connect. We know this is making a real difference to thousands of people in Staffordshire – improving opportunities for learning, leisure, employment and access to services.

“For businesses it means the ability to operate from most places in the county, grow and boost the local economy. Superfast Staffordshire is another demonstration of the public sector working with business for effective delivery and is connecting communities in both rural and urban areas.”

Bill Murphy, BT’s managing director of next generation access, said: “Fibre broadband is providing a major boost for households and businesses across Staffordshire and the UK as a whole.

“Whilst today marks another major achievement, we recognise there is still much more to do. BT is committed to rolling out faster broadband as widely and quickly as possible. Working with the government, local authorities and local communities, we are determined to find solutions for even the most challenging areas.”

People can follow the progress of the roll-out via the Superfast Staffordshire website: www.superfaststaffordshire.co.uk and via Twitter @superfaststaffs and Facebook.

Once an area has ‘gone live’, local people will be able to get download speeds of up to 80 megabits (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps*. It’s an ‘opt in’ service, but because the Openreach network is ‘open’, residents and businesses wanting to upgrade have a choice of fibre broadband providers, with more than 140 companies now operating in the UK.

Note to Editors

* These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.

Issued by Staffordshire County Council and BT.

For further information about this news release Tom Hobbins at the Staffordshire County Council press office on 01785 276832 or email: tom.hobbins@staffordshire.gov.uk

OrEmma Tennant at the BT Regional press office on 0800 085 0660 or email: emma.tennant@bt.com Twitter: @EmmaTennantBT

All BT news releases can be read at www.bt.com/newscentre

Photos of the roll-out of Superfast Staffordshire can be downloaded for free from: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk1eZqD3

About Superfast Staffordshire

Superfast Staffordshire is a partnership between Staffordshire County Council, BDUK and BT. It builds on the commercial roll-outs in the county.

The first phase of the Superfast Staffordshire roll-out programme represents an investment of more than £27 million (£7.44 million from Staffordshire County Council, £7.44m from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK and £12.47m from BT.)

Staffordshire County Council will receive an extra £2.4m from BT following higher than expected take up of fibre broadband. This will be modelled in due course.

The new deal injects further funding into the County Council’s contract with BT, with a further £1.68m coming from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Superfast Extension Programme (SEP) and £630,000 from BT.

For those premises not included in the fibre footprint, Superfast Staffordshire is aiming to improve broadband speeds using alternative technologies.

About Superfast Britain

Superfast Britain is a Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race. The portfolio is comprised of three elements:

1. £790m to extend superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017;
2. £150m to provide high speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities; and
3. £150m to improve quality and coverage of mobile phone and basic data network services.

   Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of life.

   For further information: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk

   About BT

   BT’s purpose is to use the power of communications to make a better world. It is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of five customer-facing lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Business, BT Consumer, BT Wholesale and Openreach.

   For the year ended 31 March 2015, BT Group’s reported revenue was £17,979mwith reported profit before taxation of £2,645m.

   British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

   For more information, visit www.btplc.com.