BT in £36m broadband deal for Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire

BT has signed yet another deal with local authorities in the UK to bring broadband to rural parts of the country, with Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire the latest areas set to benefit.

The rollout will aims to deliver broadband speeds of at least 2Mbit/s by 2016 to at least 91 percent of the premises in Wiltshire and 94 percent of the premises in South Gloucestershire.

BT is aiming to get most premises hooked on speeds of between 24 and 80Mbit/s, though, via its fibre-to-the-cabinet technology, although it will also put its fibre-to-the-premises technology in place in some locations, which can offer 330Mbit/s speeds.

The deal is made up of several chunks of funding, ranging from £4.6m from the government's Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme, £15.5m from Wiltshire Council, £2m from South Gloucestershire Council and £12.8m from BT.

This should help ensure firms in the region can benefit from the benefits of superfast broadband, according to those behind the project.

"This project will really put the county on the map, attracting more businesses, helping existing ones grow and enabling rural properties become less isolated," said John Thomson, Wiltshire Councils cabinet member for communities.

Bill Murphy, managing director for Next Generation Broadband at BT Group, added, "High speed broadband is critical to attracting new businesses to the area and providing individuals with access to the myriad of new applications and services that are becoming available."

The project will be managed by BT's Openreach division which will allow other firms to sell services on top of the network.

The deal is just the latest in a series of contracts won by BT which include a £60m deal with Herefordshire and Gloucestershire and a £51m deal in Cumbria.