Lancashire Businesses to Benefit from New BT Broadband Deal

Lancashire has become the very first county in the UK to take advantage of the Government's broadband financing. The county has agreed to roll out broadband to rural areas that risk falling behind to benefit both residents and local businesses.

The signed deal with BT involves providing superfast broadband to 97% of residents by the end of 2014. Councils across the UK have been given the opportunity to improve rural broadband and local authorities have until April to cash in on the Government scheme.

The Government has put in £10.8million to fund the campaign in Lancashire and £16.5million has derived from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Lancashire County Council (LCC) has contributed £5.2million and £30million has been contributed by BT.

It is hoped that the broadband project will boost the local economy by creating around 2,500 jobs.

Geoff Driver, leader of Lancashire County Council, said: "Today our ambition to provide Lancashire citizens and business with a world-class broadband service turns into a reality."

It is all part of the Government's pledge to provide everyone in the country with speeds of at least 2Mbps (megabits per second) by 2015 as well as see 90% of homes and businesses have access to superfast broadband which is 24Mbps or higher. And according to Ofcom, 15% of homes in Lancashire have speeds less than 2Mbps.

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