No summer break for West Yorkshire super-fast broadband roll-out

The roll-out of super-fast fibre broadband is prospering across West Yorkshire as BT announces today that 200 new street cabinets have been connected with more than 50km of fibre during June and July alone.

Whilst the residents in West Yorkshire have been enjoying their summer holidays, a team of more than 40 engineers has been working on the roll-out in places including Armley, Guiseley, Pontefract and Headingley. To minimise the disruption that an engineering project of this scale can cause, a large amount of the work has been carried out at night.

The summer roll-out has provided a further 60,000 West Yorkshire homes and businesses with access to super-fast broadband, bringing the total number to date to over 131,000, and the roll-out continues. BT’s local network business Openreach is laying the new fibre-based broadband to support speeds many times faster than those now experienced by most households.

The fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband technology installed across West Yorkshire will deliver download speeds of up to 40Mbps - with the prospect of 60Mbps in the future. Upstream speeds will also be faster, giving customers greater flexibility in how they use the internet and offering businesses major advantages, including new services and more sophisticated communications, such as high-quality videoconferencing.

Malcolm Hodgson lives in Low Moor and is one of Openreach’s engineering supervisors working on the project. He said: “I am really excited to be playing a part in bringing super-fast broadband to my friends and family in my home town. I have just had my own service installed and the difference in broadband speed is amazing.”

BT has announced plans to invest up to £2.5 billion in super-fast broadband, which could become available to around two-thirds of UK premises by 2015 if investment conditions are favourable. This investment is one of the largest in the world that doesn’t rely on public sector funding and where the network is open to all service providers on an equal basis.

Super-fast speeds allow users to run multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time. For example, some members of a family could be watching different high definition (HD) movies or 3D TV, while others play online games or work on complex graphics or video projects.

The new network will be able to carry many new services and applications for businesses. Computer processing and storage of files will become more sophisticated and secure using ‘cloud computing’ technology. There will be faster back-up of computer systems and wider use of high quality videoconferencing within firms and between them and their customers.

BT's fibre roll-out is only one of its activities to bring high-speed broadband to West Yorkshire. By upgrading copper based services, broadband speeds of up to 20Mbps can be accessed by 525,000 West Yorkshire homes and businesses. By Spring 2011 more than 680,000 lines serving West Yorkshire homes and businesses will be able to access this faster copper-based broadband service.

The technology is available on an open, wholesale basis to all companies providing broadband services. Householders and businesses can contact their broadband service provider to place an order or register their interest.

Full list of exchanges where work has taken place over summer months:
ARMLEY
CALDER VALLEY
CASTLEFORD
GUISELEY
HALIFAX
HEADINGLEY
LOFTHOUSE GATE
LOW MOOR
PONTEFRACT
PUDSEY
SHIPLEY
GARFORTH
ROTHWELL