Openreach has won
two contracts for Superfast Northamptonshire to deliver the first two stages of the
Superfast Northamptonshire project and is playing a major part in helping to
deliver benefits to many areas in North and West Northamptonshire that are in need of faster broadband.
When were the contracts awarded?
The first stage of the project was contracted by (then) Northamptonshire County Council in March 2013 following a procurement process through the Government’s Broadband Infrastructure Framework. This contract with Openreach was extended twice in 2014 to provide an additional 4,750 premises with access to superfast broadband, on top of the 48,660 first envisaged. Excellent progress was made and these extended Stage 1 plans were completed in March 2016 and benefitted a total of 53,410 premises.
The second contract was awarded to Openreach in November 2014, and will extend the availability of superfast broadband to around a further 19,000 premises.
What will the contracts achieve?
Together
these contracts will deliver hundreds of miles of fibre broadband network to
make superfast broadband available to around 72,000 homes and businesses in
North and West Northamptonshire. Families and businesses can choose to take up superfast broadband
services once available by asking their Internet Service Provider (ISP) about
how to upgrade or finding the best deal by comparing ISP offers on-line. Openreach’s
network is open meaning that people will have significant choice about who to
buy their internet services from. Visit the Get Connected page to find out more.
Summary of contracts
| Public Investment (£) | Involved
£7m of public investment | Involves £7.2m of public investment |
|---|
| Openreach Investment | £3.9m investment by Openreach | £3m investment by Openreach |
|---|
| Network Build Details | Involved planning, design and build of a fibre based network which has provided access to Superfast Broadband (>24Mbps) to:
53,800 premises (within the target 'in need' area).
This is 400 premises more than the contract target. In total over 61,950 premises have been passed by fibre (including those above which will benefit from access to superfast broadband). This is almost 1,000 more than the Contract target. | Involves planning, design and build of a fibre based network which will provide access to Superfast Broadband (>24Mbps) to: 19,000 premises
In total over 22,000 premises will be passed by fibre (including those above which will benefit from access to superfast broadband). |
|---|
| Timescales | Network build from 2013 to March
2016 - completed 3 months early in December 2015. | Network build from early 2016 to 2019.
|
|---|
The first two stages of the Superfast Northamptonshire
project involved public funding from Northamptonshire County Council, Government
(the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, BDUK programme), the Department
for Business Innovation and Skill (Local Growth Fund via NEP); and the local
district and borough councils. Please view the FAQs
to find out more.
Please refer to the State Aid Public Consultation web page for information on the treatment of
‘superfast’ commercial coverage for the purpose of the project.
First new fibre powered cabinets went live in February 2014
The first new fibre powered cabinets (green roadside boxes) to be
delivered by the project went ‘live’ in February 2014 benefitting many of the
residents and businesses in Towcester, South Northamptonshire which can now access superfast broadband.
The then Government Minister for Communications, Ed Vaizey, was on hand to mark the achievement
of this milestone.
Eighteen months later the
Minister congratulated Northamptonshire for reaching over 50,000 premises with the superfast broadband roll out. Without the multi-million pound public /
private investment, superfast fibre broadband would not be available to these
premises and the benefits that this brings.
Image above, shows from the left: then County Council Leader Jim Harker, Ed Vaizey MP, then Minister of State at DCMS, then County Councillor Andre Gonzalez de Savage and former BT Managing Director of NGA, Bill Murphy.
Further information
For more information on how and where Openreach are delivering for the project please visit the pages listed below: