Last updated at 12:02, Thursday, 20 September 2012

BT HAS won a £40m contract to roll-out superfast broadband across Cumbria.

The county council agreed the deal last Thursday, ending a bidding process that began in October 2010 when Cumbria was chosen for a Government subsidy to bring broadband to rural areas.

In June councillors rejected bids from BT and Fujitsu, saying that neither matched their ambition to deliver broadband speeds of 25Mbps by 2015 to 90 per cent of Cumbrian homes and businesses.

Since then the council has been locked in negotiations with BT to thrash out an acceptable agreement.

Liz Mallinson, the Cabinet member responsible, said the Connecting Cumbria programme would bring “significant long-term benefits”.

She added: “This contract will provide essential infrastructure that will help the project deliver superfast broadband across rural and urban Cumbria to residents and businesses alike.”

The council has so far secured £23m of grant funding – including £17.1m from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK project – and hopes to land £15.4m of European money. In addition, it says, BT is investing £30m.

The Cabinet’s decision to give the contract to BT Global Services could still be challenged. It is subject to a 10-day call in period under the council’s rules and there are still details to finalise before ministers give approval.

The council will know by November if the deal complies with European legislation.

First published at 11:06, Thursday, 20 September 2012
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk