3,500 homes and business included in next phase of West Yorkshire fibre broadband rollout

The next phase of a high-speed fibre broadband rollout in West Yorkshire will see 3,500 homes and business connected across Collingham Bridge, Steeton and Thorner.

Superfast West Yorkshire, the local authority partnership between Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield councils, has announced work will also aim to make fibre more widely available in areas which already have the technology.

These areas include Boston Spa, Chapeltown, Crofton, Crossgates, Cullingworth, Drighlington, Horbury/Ossett, Keighley, Knottingley, Moortown, Morley, Pontefract, Seacroft, Wakefield, Wentbridge and Wetherby.

Superfast West Yorkshire is working with BT to bring fibre broadband to premises in West Yorkshire which are not currently included in the private sector’s commercial roll-out plans.

The investment is made up of Government funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) combined with funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), BT and four West Yorkshire local authorities.

Bill Murphy, BT’s managing director of next generation access, said: “This is great news for the people of West Yorkshire. From children doing their homework to caring for our elderly population and from social media, to e-commerce and home entertainment – fast broadband is the critical enabler.

“Fibre is no longer a nice to have for business. It is a need to have. To compete effectively in this world of technology we find ourselves in you need to be able to move, act and do business quickly and effectively.

“Faster broadband breaks down the barriers to doing business in the digital world like online trading, which helps to empower those small businesses to find new markets, sell new products, try new models and compete on an equal footing with larger businesses.”

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