A new multi million pound contract between West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and BT has been signed to make superfast fibre broadband available to tens of thousands more households and businesses across West Yorkshire and parts of York.
This second phase of the project will build on the successful work of Superfast West Yorkshire Phase 1 and BT’s own commercial roll-out of the high-speed technology, to extend coverage of fibre broadband throughout the current programme area as well as Kirklees and parts of York.
A further 26,905 homes and businesses are expected to get access to superfast speeds within the next two years. The £19.5 million deal has been agreed following discussions to ensure areas in West Yorkshire and York currently without access to superfast broadband can benefit from improved broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps. It is expected that more than 98 per cent of homes and businesses in West Yorkshire and York will have access to fibre broadband by the end of June 2018.
Funding includes £6.9 million from the BDUK Superfast Extension Plan and £3.49 million from BT. We have secured £7.3 million from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.
WYCA and the local authority partners have provided additional investment to support the delivery and resource for the day-to-day running of the project.
For Phase 1 and 2 updates and the latest news follow us on Twitter @SuperfastWY or facebook.com/superfastwy
FAQs
1. What is Phase 2 and where does it cover?
Phase 2 of the superfast broadband contract will cover the West Yorkshire area, including Kirklees and parts of York.
2. How does it differ from Phase 1?
The area has been extended to cover Kirklees and parts of York.
Quick comparison:
|
Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
|
67,500 premises passed |
26,905 premises |
|
Cost of project around £21.96 million |
£19.5 million |
|
Included Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale and Wakefield |
To include same four partners as before plus Kirklees Council and City of York Council. |
3. Will I be covered as part of Phase 2 if I didn’t benefit from Phase 1?
We have just signed the contract for Phase 2 of the project and are in the early stages of planning where the rollout will go.
We will provide further updates on areas the rollout will reach as soon as we have more details.
4. I live in Wakefield (or another local authority), what does this mean to me?
We will provide more detail in coming months as we drill down into the detail of the project and start to plan for each local area.
5. Timescales
Planning and surveys have begun and will continue throughout 2016/17.
The Phase 2 infrastructure build commenced in April 2016 and will continue until June 2018.