The council has signed a contract with BT to build on the existing telecoms infrastructure in the county so that at least 88% of all properties should have access to superfast broadband by April 2016, with the council aiming for everyone else to have access to at least of 2Mb/s broadband. For the first time ever, broadband should be available everywhere in Lincolnshire.

The deal is the largest of its kind in the East Midlands and sixth largest nationally.

Councillor Kelly Smith, Executive Member for Finance and HR, said: “The internet is transforming our lives – at home, at work and at school. And thanks to this investment by local councils, BT and national government, everyone will be able to reap the benefits offered by digital technology. This project is going to dramatically improve broadband speeds across the county, bringing a wealth of opportunities for residents and businesses alike. This is the start of an exciting new era for our county.”

Bill Murphy, Managing Director, Next Generation Access, BT, added: “This is great news for Lincolnshire. We’re already seeing the positive impact faster, fibre broadband is having on businesses and residents in the county and now, thanks to this partnership, the benefits will be felt much wider, helping boost the local economy.”

Initial information on what’s planned can now be found online on the new Onlincolnshire home page, although please be aware these details may change.

The project, which is part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK programme, will see around £48m of public and private sector money invested in improving the county’s broadband infrastructure. The cash includes £11.2m from the county council, £4m from the district authorities, £14.3m from national government and £18.8m from BT.

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: “It’s fantastic that for the first time, broadband will be available everywhere in Lincolnshire as the result of one of our largest superfast broadband projects in the country. The UK already does more business online than any other European country, and widespread access to superfast broadband will provide a tremendous boost to Lincolnshire’s local economy.”

BT was chosen following a competitive selection process. Work on the project will start imminently with the first superfast connections expected to be available in January 2014. The roll-out will begin with a period of planning and detailed surveying, before Openreach, BT’s local network business, starts work on the ground.

In addition, £300,000 from the European Regional Development Fund will be used to bring superfast speeds to east coast communities in and around Ingoldmells and Wrangle through wireless technology, with the improvements being carried out by Lincoln firm AB Internet.

The AB Internet contract focuses on two areas of the east coast, namely, Ingoldmells, Chapel St Leonards and Willoughby with Sloothby and Old Leake and Wrangle, Frithville, Stickney and Sibsey. The improvements carried out by AB Internet should be completed by the autumn.

Fibre broadband refers to services delivered using Next Generation Access technologies.



Superfast broadband refers to speeds of 24 Mb/s and above. That’s over two and a half times quicker than the current UK average of 9Mb/s.



The contract with BT concentrates on an intervention area of over 150,000 premises where existing or planned commercial roll outs would not deliver superfast speeds. This will mean that at least 94% of all premises should have access to fibre broadband by April 2016.



BT’s network will be open to all communications providers on an equal wholesale basis enabling customers across Lincolnshire to benefit from a highly competitive market, bringing greater choice and affordable prices.



The fibre-based network will allow businesses to introduce many new services and applications. Big business applications driven by cloud services and data centres will now be within the reach of firms of all sizes. Computer back-up, storage and processing will be faster, and the use of high quality videoconferencing by firms and their customers will be possible, which can also help to reduce transport demand.



The new technology will also transform the way people use the internet in the home – enabling them to run multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time, speeding up the simple sharing of pictures and video and enjoying the growing boom in entertainment services available online.



Fibre to the Cabinet will be the main technology deployed. This delivers wholesale downstream speeds of up to 80Mbps and upstream speeds of up to 20Mbps. Fibre to the Premises technology - delivering ultra-fast wholesale speeds of up to 330Mbps - will also be deployed in certain areas and will start to become available on demand, from Spring 2013, throughout the whole of the fibre footprint. These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.



Openreach will levy an installation charge for the FTTP on demand service and it will be up to service providers to then decide whether they pass that onto businesses or consumers wishing to take advantage of the service.