West Midlands
intouch Autumn 2013
Our half- year
financial results
highlighted the
fact that our fibre
network now passes
more than 17million
premises, with
more than 2million homes and
businesses using our fibre based
services.
Also noted alongside the commercial rollout
was the great progress with our BDUK
partnerships - you can read about some
of these and case studies of how SMEs are
reaping the rewards of fibre technology in
this issue. The success of BT Sport was also
highlighted, which is not only good news for
sports fans but also has the benefit of driving
broadband take up which can only have a
positive impact across the region.
You may also be aware that Ofcom has
just released their latest UK Infrastructure
Report. This report provides a very
comprehensive review of actual UK
communication infrastructure as of today.
It highlights the strong position of the UK
compared to major EU countries, and the US
in particular, against the key government
targets of SFBB coverage, take up and
overall speed. The report also highlights that
most of the growth in coverage is a result
of BT’s continued investment in fibre and
recognise that the BDUK programme will
help to address this going forward.
But it’s not just about broadband - we take
our social responsibilities seriously at every
level of engagement. We are working with
organisations across the UK to help people
overcome the digital divide and providing
the technology and support for initiatives
such as BBC Children in Need.
It’s a very exciting time for us all.
New postcode checker for fibre broadband
The postcode checker – which tells users when
exchanges in their area are due to have fibre
broadband equipment installed – now offers
more precise information about the status of
their own local exchange.
Instead of telling users about all of the
exchanges in their area, the postcode checker
narrows it down to the exchange that serves
them, annotated with the symbol that
applies to the current super-fast status of the
exchange. This gives a much clearer picture of
whether they are likely to be able to receive
fibre services.

New postcode checker for
clearer fibre broadband

Worcestershire looks forward
to super-fast future
New research shows fibre
 network boosting local
economy

Small businesses making it
big with fibre broadband

Power of fibre broadband
feature on YouTube

Young people given a
sporting chance

Disabled people still facing
digital divide
Mike Cook, Regional Director for the
West Midlands
mike.cook@bt.com.
Openreach’s recently launched
new-look super-fast broadband web
page now gives customers a better
idea of when their exchange will be
upgraded.
 Regional Director’s Message
The checker will provide the information
required for 99 per cent of enquiries – the
exceptions being where postcodes straddle a
number of exchange boundaries,
as they do in Shropshire and Wales.
The new web page also features a list of all
internet service providers offering fibrebased broadband services on the Openreach
network, plus a new ‘don’t let your internet
connection hold you back’ video animation.
In addition, it has been made more mobilefriendly, so it can be viewed on phones and
tablets more easily.
The web page now attracts around 200,000
visitors, and delivers around 25,000
clickthroughs to ISP websites every month.
Check it out at www.superfast-openreach.
co.uk
Super-fast plans unveiled
 for thousands more regional
premises

New Regional Director
sleeping on the job!

Shropshire villagers blaze trail
to bring home the broadband

BT funds for local community
groups
West Midlands
intouch Autumn 2013
Worcestershire looks forward to super-fast future
Thanks to a multi-million pound
partnership between Worcestershire
County Council and BT, high-speed
fibre broadband will be rolled out to
the majority of homes and businesses
in the county within the next three
years.
The Superfast Worcestershire project builds on
our ongoing commercial fibre roll-out – which
will reach more than 176,000 premises across
the county by the end of spring 2014 – to
deliver a next generation broadband network
during 2014, 2015 and beyond that will
transform local broadband speeds, especially
in rural areas. It also aims to provide highspeed access to 90 per cent of the county’s
businesses in support of the County Council’s
‘Open for Business’ initiative.
Councillor Simon Geraghty, Worcestershire
County Council’s Deputy Leader and
Cabinet Member for Economy, Skills and
Infrastructure, said: “This investment is vital
to our county’s future economy, as increased
broadband speeds will support and boost
the competitiveness of our local businesses,
keep skills and job prospects local and provide
yet another reason for businesses to come to
Worcestershire.”
Councillor John Campion, Worcestershire
County Council’s Cabinet Member for
Transformation and Commissioning, added:
“This broadband infrastructure will bring great
benefits for businesses and for local people
of all ages as faster broadband speeds are
essential to access technology developments.
From accessing services and learning
opportunities online to assistive technology for
older people and supporting homeworking,
this investment really will make a difference to
local people’s daily lives.”
Worcestershire will benefit from a highly
competitive market. It will also boost the
competitiveness of local businesses, helping
them to find new customers and operate more
efficiently, while opening up a host of new
learning and development opportunities for
home users.
Similar contracts have also just been signed
covering Newcastle; Merseyside; Derbyshire,
Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire; West
Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire;
Berkshire and Oxfordshire; and Essex, Milton
Keynes and Bedfordshire.
Engineers for Openreach will build the new
fibre infrastructure. The main technology
deployed will be Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC),
which provides downstream speeds of up
to 80Mbps and upstream speeds of up to
20Mbps. However, Fibre to the Premises
(FTTP) technology, which delivers ultra-fast
speeds of up to 330Mbps, is also being made
available on demand throughout the entire
fibre footprint should local businesses wish to
upgrade.
The new network will be open to all
communications providers on an equivalent
basis, meaning firms and households in
County Council deputy leader Simon Geraghty, Openreach
engineer Trevor Cogzell and BT’s Bill Murphy were at the
Worcestershire announcement
New research shows fibre network boosting local economy
New independent research by
SERIO at Plymouth University and
Buckman Associates shows that the
fibre network in Cornwall is already
providing a major economic boost
to local small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs). Making it one of
the best connected areas in Britain
and the best connected rural region
in Europe.
Early findings from the study revealed that
after 12 months, 83 per cent of them were
saving time and money thanks to the faster
speeds and innovative services that fibre
broadband enables.
In fact, six out of every 10 (58 per cent) SMEs
surveyed said their business is growing because
of the new technology, whilst more than a
quarter (26 per cent) have either created
or safeguarded jobs as a direct result of the
efficiency and innovation that super-fast
broadband encourages.
In addition, over a third of businesses
participating in the study (37.5 per cent)
reported that super-fast broadband had
helped their business to generate new sales,
with a quarter (24 per cent) of that group
pointing to new trade overseas.
Nigel Ashcroft, Superfast Cornwall programme
director for the Cornwall Development
Company, said: “The economic benefits of the
infrastructure investment will grow over time,
but we have encouraging early signs that we
are moving in the right direction in Cornwall.
Given the challenging economic conditions
for SMEs, it is great news that businesses are
growing, generating new sales and creating
jobs for the Cornwall economy.”
More than 35,000 local homes and businesses
are already taking advantage of the faster
speeds, including an estimated 4,130 SMEs.
The Superfast Cornwall project is on track
to deliver fibre broadband to 95 per cent
(originally 80 per cent) of the region, as well as
the Isles of Scilly, by the end of 2014. It is also
aiming to boost speeds for the remaining 5 per
cent of premises (about 13,000) by deploying
alternative technologies.
www.superfastcornwall.org
West Midlands
intouch Autumn 2013
Small businesses making it big with fibre broadband
Businesses all over the UK are now
seeing the benefits of upgrading to
fibre broadband. And for small and
medium enterprises (SMEs), faster
speeds have transformed the way
they work and their relationships
with their clients, as two satisfied
customers explain below.
Brian Rees is company chairman of the if
Agency, an integrated creative agency based in
South Manchester that delivers effective online
and offline campaigns for retail, leisure, finance
and other business clients across the country.
“When we set up six years ago, we quickly
embraced ‘first generation’ broadband
with ADSL that ran at 5Mbps downstream
and 800Kbps upstream. This helped but it
wasn’t a full answer. Large files still couldn’t
be transferred efficiently and many chunky
pieces of artwork were biked up and down
motorways, adding risk, time and cost to jobs.
“We understood that we needed better
connections to compete successfully against
nationally-networked agencies, and to work
more effectively with our blue-chip clients.
“Our IT consultant outlined the benefits we
could gain from fibre broadband with a superfast connection. We found that BT was offering
its new BT Infinity services in the region
and responded immediately to its customer
marketing. After two days of installation work
in November 2010, we have never looked
back.
“Using fibre connections, we are more
responsive than ever, and can now zap
45Mbps downstream and about 13Mbps
up. We worried about the cost and possible
inconvenience, but this game-changing
improvement in the service we can offer has
not cost us a premium, and we didn’t suffer
any disruption to our business.
“We understand that our connections are
the platform for our continuing success. We
always keep a close eye on BT’s plans and
developments so we’re best positioned to
take advantage of the latest technologies in
our ever-changing and furiously competitive
business.”
Stuart Landreth is one of the founders and
directors of Northumberland-based BeeBox
Systems, which provides background music
systems and digital signage to bars, clubs,
hotels, restaurants and family entertainment
centres across the North East and, increasingly,
throughout the country.
“The traditional industry model for providing
music services – still widely in use today – is
particularly slow and inflexible. The service
provider receives new material from the
content provider, processes it onto a computer,
burns it to a CD, and then sends it by post to
the venue for the landlord to upload locally. It
takes at least a week to complete the end-toend process when nothing goes wrong.
“Using fibre broadband, we upload new
content to our servers as it arrives from our
providers. Every night, each customer’s system
automatically downloads a scheduled daily
update that includes new releases and any
requests that they have made. If anything goes
wrong or our customer needs a last-minute
change, our fibre connection allows us to fix
the problem remotely, in real time, often while
the customer is still on the phone.
“Super-fast fibre has transformed the range
and quality of services we can offer. We have
two BT Infinity lines with a custom-designed
router that helps to load balance our needs for
fast content turnaround, and are moving away
from desktop-based software to a web-based
and cloud-based management system so that
we can work from anywhere, at any time.
“We no longer experience capacity constraints
that affect our general office systems, so
we use all our time far more effectively.
We automate where we can to add new
services, and to keep our costs low and prices
competitive.”
If your business has received a boost from fibre
broadband, and you would like your story to
be featured as a case study in a future edition
of InTouch, we would love to hear from you.
Please contact regions.comms@bt.com
Power of fibre broadband featured on YouTube
The winning entries in a short story
competition held in Northern Ireland
have been turned into thoughtprovoking films on the power of fibre
broadband and they can now be
found on YouTube.
write a 500-word story illustrating how fibre
broadband can transform people’s lives. Take a
look at these inspiring videos – they really help
bring the story to life.
Northern Ireland Broadband’s ‘Super Short’
competition challenged teenage citizens to
Another inspiring video available on YouTube
has been produced, capturing the great work
Fourteen-year-old Enniskillen student Dorothy
McDowell’s film can be viewed here. Twelveyear-old Lisburn student Amy Warke’s film can
be viewed here.
that is going on in Cornwall via the Get IT
Together programme to help local people take
their first steps to get online.
You can view the video on the Better Future
YouTube channel here.
West Midlands
intouch Autumn 2013
Young people given a sporting chance
An exciting new venture between
BT and its BT Sport partners and
Comic Relief is using the power of
sport to help disadvantaged young
people both here in the UK and
around the world.
The Supporters Club has been set up to raise
money to fund the coaches, mentors and
teachers that these young people need to
help them to fulfil their potential.
When customers sign up to BT Sport
through our call centres, bt.com or www.
thesupportersclub.org, they are being
invited to make a recurring £1, £3 or £5
monthly donation to The Supporters Club,
collected via their BT bills. However, people
who haven’t signed up to BT Sport but wish
to contribute can do so through our website
as well.
BT have donated £500,000 from various
initiatives to kick things off and will match
every £1 given by customers up to the first
£1 million. In addition, we are covering
the running costs of the fund so that 100
percent of donations will go straight to The
Supporters Club, which will be managed by
Comic Relief.
The scheme aims to support initiatives both
in the UK and overseas that utilise the power
of sport to help disadvantaged young people
improve their lives. These include projects
that boost enrolment and achievement in
school; reduce levels of exploitation and
abuse; secure jobs; improve health and
wellbeing; and heighten confidence and
self-esteem. We will be regularly updating
our website and producing TV programmes
featuring projects funded by The Supporters
Club, which will be broadcast on BT Sport.
Business responsibility matters to BT, and
social responsibility is a central part of our
business strategy. The Supporters Club as an
effective way for us to work hand in hand
with our customers and our employees to
make a real difference to disadvantaged
young people.
Already, thousands of customers and BT
employees have signed up to donate to
The Supporters Club, bringing in around
£300,000 a year, which BT will match –
adding a further £300,000 in the pot. To
find out more about the scheme, visit www.
sport.bt.com
Disabled people still facing digital divide
The potential for mainstream
technology to transform the
lives of the 11 million disabled
people in the UK remains largely
untapped, according to research
funded by BT’s Connected Society
programme.
In a new report, disability charity Scope and
the Royal College of Art’s Helen Hamlyn
Centre for Design argue that disabled
people still encounter a huge digital
divide – and that many still have to choose
between expensive specialist equipment
and inaccessible mainstream gadgets.
Researchers from the Helen Hamlyn Centre
for Design discovered that technology
built for disabled people is expensive,
offers low functionality and often requires
specialist knowledge to adapt. Mainstream
technology, like iPads and Windows Tablets,
is cheaper and can do much more, but is
rarely customised to meet disabled people’s
needs.
To coincide with the launch of the report –
entitled Enabling Technology – BT, Scope
and the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
unveiled a series of digital technology
prototypes at the London Design Festival in
September. These included:
The research also found that the
information available to disabled people
about enabling technology needs to be
improved. They are amongst the groups
least likely to use the internet, and are
20 per cent less likely to be online than
their peers – despite the huge potential of
services like online shopping and banking
which could transform their lives.
•the ‘Tailored Touch’ mouse, which can be
made from touch-sensitive pads on any
surface, and in any shape or size
With this in mind, the report outlines
a series of recommendations for
technology companies, commissioners
and the providers of key digital services to
maximise the ‘enabling potential’ of digital
technology.
•the ‘Pop-up Reader’, which allows a
blind or partially-sighted person to read
letters and other documents via their
smartphone.
The Enabling Technology report, plus
accompanying videos, can be found at
http://blog.scope.org.uk/2013/09/20/
technology-for-disabled-people
West Midlands
intouch Autumn 2013
Super-fast plans unveiled for thousands more regional premises
The company has announced a
further expansion of high-speed
fibre broadband in the West
Midlands, with 40,000 more
homes and businesses in Great
Barr, Halesowen, Rubery, Sutton
Coldfield and West Bromwich set
to benefit.
We expect these to be the final
communities in the region to be included
in our £2.5 billion commercial roll-out
of fibre broadband in the UK. Future
announcements will focus on areas where
fibre coverage is to be expanded even
further via partnerships with the public
sector and local communities.
Openreach will carry out work to connect
the areas between now and the end of
spring 2014, subject to planning and
technical constraints.
The expansion also includes a substantial
investment in making fibre broadband
more widely available in certain areas
which already or are due to have access to
the high-speed technology, which include
Chelmsley Wood, Erdington, Finchfield,
Leamore, Solihull and Tipton. Kenilworth,
Marton and Tile Hill in Coventry and
Warwickshire will also see increased
coverage, along with additional areas of
Worcestershire including Bromsgrove,
Evesham, Hagley, Malvern, Redditch and
Worcester city centre.
The work will take the total number of
premises with access to fibre broadband
in the West Midlands to around 1.8
million. More than 1.2 million are already
able to receive the service, and we are
working with the public sector through
our partnership programmes to reach even
more communities in the region, such
as Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire,
Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire
and Worcestershire.
Mike Cook, BT Regional Director, said:
“This is an exciting time for the digital
future of the region with widespread
availability of fibre broadband services fast
becoming a reality for thousands of local
homes. With this further fibre broadband
investment in the West Midlands, we
hope even more local people will soon
experience the difference for themselves.”
Our fibre footprint currently passes more
than 16 million UK homes and businesses.
It is due to pass two-thirds of the country’s
premises – around 19 million – by the end
of spring 2014, at least 18 months ahead
of the original timetable.
New Regional Director sleeping on the job!
On the night of 4 October, members
of the BT West Midlands Regional
Board were among a group that
braved the elements and slept out
under the stars in Birmingham, with
nothing more than a sleeping bag
and a park bench for comfort.
Regional Director Mike Cook persuaded
Regional Board members Ian Binks, Kathryn
Whitehouse and Bill Chesworth, along with
BT Wholesale’s John Snape, to join him for
Byte Night, an annual IT industry event which
sees over 1,200 IT professionals sleeping
outdoors in aid of leading children’s charity
Action for Children (formerly NCH). Meanwhile,
colleagues and friends who were unable to
take part were encouraged to support Mike
and his team through a donation.
Since 1998, Byte Night has raised over £5.2
million, and it is hoped that this year’s event
has brought in over £1 million – last year’s
alone generated £960k. The money raised
helps support young homeless people,
particularly those who are forced to leave
the local authority care system at 16 and end
up with nowhere to go. Action for Children
provides them with the support they need to
get their lives back on track.
In addition to the Birmingham event,
‘sleep-outs’ also took place this year in
Scotland, Thames Valley, London, Cambridge,
Manchester and Belfast, with the money raised
going towards supporting programmes within
those areas.
Mike said: “Having served in the Navy before
joining BT, I’m used to taking part in different
outdoor challenges, but this is certainly one of
the more unusual ones. It’s also sparked a bit
of fundraising rivalry amongst colleagues. As
we’re all using BT’s www.mydonate fundraising
platform, every single penny raised by us will
go direct to the charity.”
A night out in Birmingham: Bill Chesworth, left, Mike
Cook, Kathryn Whitehouse, Ian Binks and John Snape
West Midlands
intouch Autumn 2013
Shropshire villagers blaze trail to bring home the broadband
Internet enthusiasts in a tiny Telford
and Wrekin village now have access
to some of the fastest broadband
speeds in the country after
spearheading what is believed to
be the first community project of its
kind in the West Midlands.
of delivering fibre to this small community
were too challenging. However, the proximity
of the village to the already-upgraded local
telephone exchange at Dawley, together with a
pledge by residents to raise extra funds, helped
us to build a case for extending access to the
locality.
When residents of Little Wenlock in Shropshire
heard they were unlikely to get super-fast fibre
broadband as part of any commercial roll-out
or local authority upgrade, they decided to
look for an alternative ways of obtaining the
new technology.
Work on the ambitious project began around
18 months ago, after villagers and parish
councilors secured more than £30,000 from
UK Coal’s Community Fund plus additional
cash from Openreach. Following a period of
planning and surveys, engineers began laying
more than 2,700 metres of fibre optic cable,
connecting each of the village’s 100 premises
to the new network.
Little Wenlock had not been included in our
own roll-out plans because the economics
With the upgrade completed, residents are
now enjoying download speeds of up to
80Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.
What’s more, the network is open to all service
providers on an equal wholesale basis, with
around 80 offering or trialing fibre broadband.
Louise Pennells, one of the first villagers to
be connected, said: “Now there’s no waiting
for minutes to download files and no longer
any buffering when I try to view a clip or a
programme. It was so frustrating before – now
everything works in an instant.”
Ian Binks, BT Regional Partnership Director,
added: “The people of Little Wenlock are
true trail-blazers and are setting the pace
for rural communities with this exciting
partnership. They have worked tirelessly to get
this ambitious project off the ground. Their
enthusiasm and commitment is infectious and
we’re pleased to be working in partnership
with them.”
BT funds for local community groups
The company is rewarding
organisations and community groups
across the West Midlands with grants
of up to £1,000.
The donations are being made through our
employee recognition scheme, the BT People
Awards, which were launched last year. The
scheme acknowledges our volunteering
heroes, who offer their time and skills to help
people in their local community, by awarding
grants to organisations with which they are
involved.
Eleven groups in the West Midlands have
received grants to enable them to continue
their excellent work in the community,
including: Molineux Netball Club in
Wolverhampton, Blind Dog Rescue UK in
Oswestry, 14th Basford Scouts in NewcastleUnder-Lyme and Holland House Infant School
and Nursery in Sutton Coldfield
Mike Cook, BT Regional Director, said: “BT has
a long history of working with good causes
to help improve lives. We see volunteering
as a two-way benefit as there are many
development opportunities when new skills
are brought back into the workplace. Some
of these experiences can only be gained
by playing such an active role in the local
community.”
For more information, and a complete list of
the latest award recipients, go to
www.btpeopleawards.co.uk.
To find out more about BT’s wider portfolio of
activities please see our new brochure at
www.bt.com/charityportfolio