Nearly 50k Liverpool businesses and homes provided with high-speed broadband access

Nearly 50k businesses and homes in Liverpool have been impacted by the national roll-out of superfast broadband, according to new figures.

In the North West, over 384k companies and households were reached by the scheme, with Merseyside Connected, a collaboration between the county’s five councils, making high-speed broadband available to almost 50k premises across Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, the Wirral and St. Helens.

John Whittingdale, the Culture Secretary, commented: “Reaching 3m properties is a huge achievement and I’m delighted that this includes more than 384,000 in the North West.

“Our roll-out of superfast broadband is transforming lives up and down the UK as every day thousands more homes and businesses are gaining access to superfast speeds.”

He added: “The levels of people taking up superfast broadband in areas where we invested public money are beyond our expectations, and BT is now reimbursing the public purse to deliver further coverage across the UK. This now means that BT will be providing up to £129m cashback for some of the most hard-to-reach areas.”

The government is aiming to give 95% of the UK access to superfast broadband over the next two years. At present, over 80% of businesses and homes in the UK can access high-speed connections, with data suggesting that the roll-out is reaching an additional 40k companies and households each week.

Liverpool City Council is the lead authority of Merseyside Connected. Its cabinet member for business and enterprise, Councillor Gary Millar, said: “I’m delighted Merseyside Connected has reached almost 50,000 premises across our region.

“This is a really significant development for the people of Merseyside, to ensure the region can thrive business-wise in the digital age, but also to ensure residents can access valuable services and information online, find the best deals on products and services, and tap into all the latest entertainment and social media.”

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