Fibre broadband reaches half of Lancashire

More than half of Lancashire homes and businesses are now able to access high-speed fibre broadband.

Engineers have also begun planning and building the next phase of the Superfast Lancashire project – providing a further 21,500 homes and businesses with access to superfast broadband by the end of March.

As part of this latest deployment, 10 communities beyond the reach of commercial fibre will now have access to superfast broadband for the first time as a result of the project. The Superfast Lancashire project aims to extend high-speed broadband to 97 per cent of the county’s homes and businesses by the end of 2015.

This latest phase will also see substantial investment to extend access to faster broadband in a number of Lancashire communities where fibre is already available, including around 1,200 premises in Bacup and a further 10,000 premises in Blackpool.

County councillor Sean Serridge, champion for digital inclusion at Lancashire County Council, said: “This is a great achievement and shows we are well on the way to achieving our goal of providing 97 per cent of the county with superfast broadband by the end of next year.

Superfast Lancashire is a partnership between Lancashire County Council and BT, with additional funding from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK, as well as the European Regional Development Fund, Blackburn with Darwen Council and Blackpool. In addition to the roll-out of high-speed broadband across the county, a Business Support Centre has opened as part of Superfast Lancashire and is run by a team of specialists to advise small and medium-sized businesses across the county how to use the new technology to enhance their business.