Northumberland County Council hails fibre broadband deal

Northumberland County Council (NCC) has welcomed a new agreement that should see fibre optic broadband rolled out to 95 per cent of local properties.

The project will be delivered by BT, which is contributing £2.9 million towards the deployment. This sum will be combined with £7 million worth of investments from the county council and Broadband Delivery UK, as well as £2 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

Under the deal, BT will bring speeds of up to 80Mbps to 91 per cent of homes and businesses in the area by early 2016, while a further four per cent will also be covered by the fibre optic network, but will receive downstream rates of up to 25Mbps.

Kate Roe, deputy chief executive of NCC, said the agreement is an important milestone in the ongoing campaign to bring faster connectivity to every home, business and school in Northumberland.

"Communities across the county can look forward to improved access to online services and better connectivity for businesses from 2014 onwards," she explained.