Fibre optic broadband coming to East Sussex under new BT deal

Fibre optic broadband coming to East Sussex under new BT deal

Telecommunications giant BT has signed off a new deal to supply 66,500 rural homes and businesses in East Sussex with fibre optic broadband.

BT signed the multi-million pound deal with East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council as part of the 'e-Sussex' project, which hopes to boost broadband speeds in rural areas and in areas which currently have speeds less than 2Mbps. It is though that the rollout of fibre optic broadband will be of great help to local businesses, homeworkers and schools in the area.

The new highspeed broadband will provide up to 96 per cent of the area's homes and businesses with download speeds of up to 24Mbps over the course of the next three years. The remaining four per cent of homes and businesses can look forward to quicker internet access by 2017, BT has advised.

The vast majority of commercial and residential premises will receive fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which can supply downstream speeds of up to 80Mbps. FTTC can also supply upstream speeds of up to 20Mbps. It has also been confirmed that fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) will be available on demand in certain areas, which can supply download speeds up to 330Mbps.

BT is injecting £9.8 million into the project, with East Sussex County Council providing £15 million towards the cost of funding. A further £10.64 million will be provided by the Government's Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) project.

Managing director of Next Generation Access for BT, Bill Murphy, confirmed that the new deal would allow local businesses to expand, as well as attracting inward investment and boosting the local economy.

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