Superfast fibre broadband

The government's BDUK initiative aims to make superfast UK a reality

The UK Government has an ambition for the whole country to have the best superfast broadband network in the EU by 2015. This is a hugely ambitious target and the discussions around funding it have raged for years. Rather than debate the issue, we decided to invest £2.5 billion into the deployment of a superfast fibre infrastructure for the UK.

More than 6 million homes already have access to this infrastructure and 10 million will have it by 2012, well on the way to achieving our target of around two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014. By then, something like 6 million children will also be able to learn at the speed of light, at home and at school.

Which leaves the 'final third' – properties in rural areas that are hard-to-reach, or simply not commercially viable with private funding alone.

£830 million of public funding has been set aside to complete the final third. We're in discussions with BDUK (the UK Government's broadband delivery authority) and with the devolved nations of Scotland and Wales to see how we can work together to help achieve this vision.

If you work for a local authority and would like to talk to us about how we can bring superfast fibre to your community, email us at ngb@openreach.co.uk