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Our fibre network
now covers more
than 20 million
homes and
businesses and
we’re passing over
70,000 additional
premises per week.
Demand remains strong with more than 3
million sign-ups. Around two thirds of UK
premises can now order much faster broadband
from a wide variety of ISPs using the new
network, all of whom have benefited from the
billions of pounds BT has spent on upgrading
its network. The vast majority of that footprint
has been enabled by BT under its commercial
plan, with the remainder being enabled in
partnership with the public sector across the UK.
You can read about the progress of some of our
regional partnerships in this issue of In Touch.
Openreach are expanding their workforce
and announced nationally they expect to
recruit 1,600 engineers. The creation of new
jobs is one of the many benefits associated
with the roll-out of superfast broadband.
The government recognise that for every £1
they invest in infrastructure projects, such as
the rollout of fibre, there is a £20 benefit in
return together with the employment boost
supporting long-term economic growth.
A new international report launched by BT at
the International Festival for Business revealed
that the UK’s ‘digital first’ economy’ (i.e a
ubiquitous, nationwide, high-speed internet
connection) is a ‘great help’ when expanding.
The UK is Europe’s most desirable market for
companies looking to expand their business
overseas and sits second globally, narrowly
behind the US. Also featured in this issue
is the BT Better Future Report, our annual
sustainability report. This year’s report outlines
how our new strategy will have a positive impact
on society using the power of communication
to improve lives and ways of doing business.
I hope you will enjoy reading about what we
are doing both nationally and regionally.
There will be changes to all the existing
categories to provide a clearer view of the
fibre availability for individual postcodes. The
website will feature a form that anyone from
the general public can use to get additional
information about superfast deployment
plans or alternative funding options. The
new system will return four possible results
once an exchange has been enabled and the
map markers will show ‘cabinet enabled’.
• Accepting orders: Great news. Superfast
Fibre is in your area and your cabinet is
enabled and accepting orders. Contact your
preferred communications provider for your
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home or business to order.
• Enabled area: Your area is enabled for
Superfast Fibre but your cabinet is not ready
yet so you can’t place an order today. It is
in our plans to be upgraded and we update
this info weekly, so please check back later.
• High demand: Your area is enabled for
Superfast Fibre but demand is high on your
cabinet right now. This means you can’t order
Superfast Fibre today but we’re working
to increase capacity as soon as possible.
• Under review: We’re in your area but
we’re still assessing whether or not we
can upgrade your cabinet. This means
you can’t order Superfast Fibre.
More information can be found here:
http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/
where-and-when/.
Openreach Superfast fibre
website update
 We’re festival headliners

The start-up of
something wonderful

Full speed ahead after
fibre first
 BT’s 2020 Vision

How we got IT together
in Barnsley

Expanding our engineer force
in Yorkshire and The Humber

Helping Internet Security
‘click’ with everyone

Putting wind in our UK
operations’ sails

Welcome to the North
Yorkshire superfast highway

Calderdale – flying the flag
for Superfast West Yorkshire

Northern Lincs broadband
celebrates first birthday
Tom Keeney, Regional Director for Yorkshire
and The Humber, tom.keeney@bt.com.
Openreach Superfast fibre website update
Openreach have updated their fibre
availability map on the superfast
website to show cabinet level results
where an exchange area is enabled.

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We’re festival headliners
BT were recently lead sponsor
at the International Festival
for Business (IFB).
It’s the biggest business event of the year,
and we showcased our expertise in smarter
and creative business practices. BT provides
services to around 900,000 small and
medium-sized business (SME) customers in
the UK, so this was a great opportunity to
meet and talk with them.
Gavin Patterson
speaking at
the IFB Global
Leaders Summit.
The UK. Europe’s No.1
expansion destination
To mark the opening of the event BT
launched a new international report,
which revealed that the UK is Europe’s
‘most desirable’ market for companies
looking to expand their business overseas.
In fact, ‘The art of connecting global
business’ reveals that the UK sits second
globally – narrowly behind the US.
The report, which surveyed 1,150
business decision makers across 13 global
regions, also explored the reasons behind
international expansion: which markets
were desirable and why? What are the
effects of being a ‘digital first’ economy?
And what are the barriers to expansion?
And respondents pointed to technology as
the biggest (37 per cent) barrier to making
their international ambitions a reality.
In turn, because of the perceived quality
of our IT and data security governance and
regulation, 91 per cent said that our ‘digitalfirst economy’ (a ubiquitous, nationwide,
high-speed internet connection) is a ‘great
help’ when expanding.
Accelerating growth at the IFB
Danny Longbottom, Managing Director
UK SME BT Business, also hosted an
event focussed on how SMEs can best
use social media, with the aim of inspiring
growth, motivation and collaboration
among businesses with great potential.
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Communication’s worth
talking about
Chief Executive Gavin Patterson told city
leaders from around the globe that the world
is being transformed by communications.
He was speaking at the BT Global City
Leaders’ Summit in Liverpool, where 200
Mayors and leaders from the world’s capital
cities discussed their challenges, and their
roles in driving global growth.
Gavin said: “Our world is being transformed
by communications – from how businesses
do business to how governments govern and
how communities live; from how we educate
our children and how we care for the sick to
what we do for entertainment. And our cities
are, of course, at the forefront of that.”
He told delegates that our 160 years’
of innovation m eans we understand
how communications drive growth,
prosperity and change. Addressing
the summit’s topic – the shift from
the age of austerity to prosperity – he
explained just how vital technology is
to unleashing people’s potential.
BT Chairman Mike Rake said: “Liverpool’s
changed so much. It’s a great example
of how and why Britain’s cities need to
regenerate. It highlights the importance
of maximising local potential and
driving investment; of focusing on key
geographical pockets of industry and
innovation; and why local economies must
be properly governed and supported.”
BT’s Youngest Recruits
Our BT Apprentices were also out in force
– supporting ‘The Skills Show’ at Aintree
racecourse. And more than 5,000 Liverpool
school children met up with local business
people at interactive stations to try their
hands at various jobs.
At our stand, apprentices from Openreach
and BT Business gave students a taste
of what it takes to work for BT. Students
identified the correct tones to wire a
customer’s phone line, made sure routing
was done correctly in a telephone exchange
simulator, and saw the final result: a
customer watching BT Sport on their TV.
Students checked out the equipment used by
apprentices, including a working Diablo van,
and dressed in Openreach safety kit. Mike
Blackburn, BT Regional Director for the North
West was also on hand to offer his support.
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The start-up of something wonderful
Recently, as part of our Infinity
Lab programme, we asked tech
entrepreneurs to design and present
innovative products.
The aim of this competition was to discover
unique start-up companies that have created
apps and services to help Internet users take
advantage of superfast broadband. Apps with
the potential to be used alongside our existing
products, reaching millions of UK households.
The best entrepreneurs won six months’ of
our support, including access to our very
own experts in research and development,
engineering, legal, marketing and more.
They also had the chance to become members
at the sold-out TechHub community space in
the heart of East London’s Tech City - great
news for budding innovators, as they’ll be
able to meet, work, learn and collaborate
with a huge mix of tech entrepreneurs.
For this year’s competition, our winning
start-up company was one of ten shortlisted
finalists, Sedicii. Their ground-breaking
innovation uses patented technology to
protect personal online sign-in details. In
other words, no passwords are transmitted
or stored anywhere - except in a user’s head,
that is. And we’re looking forward to working
with Sedicii and TechHub to bring their
creation to life.
Tom Keeney, Regional Director for Yorkshire
and The Humber, said: “All the finalists
had a great story had a great story and
are businesses with a promising future.”
Rob Leslie, Chief Executive and founder of
Sedicii, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to
have won this award and be able to work
alongside a global giant like BT.
“For Sedicii’s identity exchange concept to
succeed we need to work closely with the
most trusted names in the business, and there
are very few companies out there which come
close to the strength of reputation and brand
trust that BT has in the marketplace.”
We’re constantly looking for innovations that
use ICT and communication technologies
to tackle current and emerging social
challenges. And you’ll probably hear about
those new innovations on these pages, first.
Full speed ahead after fibre first
Self-funded fibre broadband
has helped lots of people in rural
and remote areas get a superfast
broadband connection. However,
they’re now not the only people to
benefit; more than 60 businesses,
old and new, are currently reaping
the rewards of our superfast fibre in
a Cambridgeshire business park.
Lancaster Way Business Park has attracted
an impressive and growing number of
businesses. The owners, Grovemere
Property, recognise that high-quality, highspeed connections are a must when you’re
looking to grow your business. With that
in mind, they’ve made Lancaster Way the
first business park in the UK to fund its own
fibre broadband cabinet. Lancaster Way is
flourishing. In fact, a flexible high-quality
employment space will soon be added, and
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Grovemere expect the built-in superfast
broadband services will provide a further
boost to the tenants.
Harvey Bibby, Grovemere Property’s
Marketing and Development Director
explains: “We know that the best
connections attract the best new companies,
and our existing tenants were already eager
for superfast broadband services. When
we found out that our business park wasn’t
included in the Cambridgeshire rollout
programme, we decided we had to make it
happen for ourselves.”
Grovemere spoke directly with residents and
created a detailed picture of their needs with
our Regional Partnership Director for the
East of England, Annette Thorpe.
“It was a very good-team work approach
from both the BT organisation and the
Grovemere team on the ground, with the
support of businesses who wanted it to
happen”, said Annette.
Lancaster Way tenants now get
download speeds of just under 60
Mbps and upload speeds of around 20
Mbps. It’s a dramatic change to the
service and tenants are delighted.
Lloyd Townsend, MD of ISON Distribution
Ltd commented, “Access to high
speed broadband is becoming more
and more important to us as we send
high quality images and video back
and forwards around the world.”
Harvey Bibby is equally as happy with the
outcome. “We have 90 acres of development
land and we can design and build bespoke
facilities that are superfast broadbandenabled. Businesses on the park are already
operating more effectively and more
productively, so it is a win-win having
brought fibre optic onto the estate.”
For this and other case studies visit
http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/
BTUKandWorldwide/BTRegions/England/
Englishregions.htm.
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BT’s 2020 Vision
Our ‘Better Future’ vision has
been unveiled in our annual
sustainability report. It’s a new
strategy that’ll have a positive
impact on society – using the power
of communication to improve
lives and ways of doing business.
We’ve already invested £27 million into
being a responsible and sustainable business
in 2012/13. This went into three main
areas, each with a goal we hope to realise by
the end of 2020. It’s also part of our drive
towards profitable revenue growth and goes
beyond just reaching sustainable practices in
our own operations. It’ll recognise and utilise
the broader value we can give society too.
The ‘Connected Society’ portion of the
strategy looks to improve global societies
through digital connections. And if more
than nine out of ten people in the UK
have access to fibre-based products
and services by 2020, then we’ll have
achieved our goal. Our investments have
rocket-launched the rollout of UK fibre
broadband to around 19 million premises.
The next segment of the strategy is ‘Net
Good’. This uses our products and services
to help society live within the limits of
the planet’s ever-dwindling resources.
And it’s all centred around a 2020 goal to
help customers reduce carbon emissions
by at least three times our end-to-end
carbon impact. We’ve already achieved
our target of hitting an 80% reduction
in UK carbon emissions – three years
ahead of schedule. And despite increased
business volumes, we reduced our energy
consumption in 2012/13 by 3.3%,
saving a mammoth £33m annually.
The final ‘Better Future’ proposition is
‘Improving Lives’. As the title suggests, it’s
about using our skills and technology to
change hundreds of millions of lives around
the globe for the better. The aim is to raise
£1bn for good causes. An ambitious goal
for 2020; but last year alone we raised £59
million. This included over £25m through
BT MyDonate’s fundraising, telethons and
appeals; £2.9m through payroll giving; and
volunteering projects worth around £13m.
The BT Better Future Report 2013 is
available to download at www.btplc.com/
betterfuture.
How we got IT together in Barnsley
The Barnsley digital inclusion
project we support, which
helps locals benefit from being
online, has come runner-up
in a national competition.
The Digital Unite Spring Online Best Event
Awards, celebrate outstanding work by local
volunteers and organisations. And they
saw the social benefit of our partnership
with Berneslai Homes. We hosted a Digital
Tea Party where more than 70 local
people had the opportunity to use the
internet. They set up email accounts and
learned how to shop online, all followed
by tea and cake with the Mayor. A special
‘twitter station’, staffed by enthusiastic
volunteers and previous learners helped to
generate a social media buzz on the day.
Hundreds of organisations took part in
‘Spring Online’, holding free digital taster
events across the UK to encourage local
people – particularly older people – to take
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their first steps with digital technology.
Our Barnsley Project Co-ordinator Alison
Vint accepted the top award from TV
celebrity Angela Rippon during an awards
ceremony at the City Hall in London.
Alison said: “Our Digital Tea Party was a
great success and we hope to make it an
annual event to encourage more Barnsley
residents to get online in a relaxed setting
in the company of previous learners and our
enthusiastic project team.”
Donna Flavell, who lives in Thurnscoe
near Barnsley is one of those who’ve
benefited from the scheme. She said:
“I’m using computers much more and
I now feel confident in searching and
sending emails – I’ve even used the
internet to apply for a job. It’s just not that
frightening anymore and I’m encouraging
my family and friends to get online.”
Tom Keeney, our Regional Director for
Yorkshire and The Humber, said: “It’s
fantastic news that the Get IT Together
project in Barnsley has won this award,
reflecting their hard work. BT is delighted to
support projects like this one, helping people
to enjoy the benefits of being online.”
Dick Stroud of Digital Unite said: “A fantastic
range of individuals and organisations
were involved in the campaign this year.
It’s clear that Spring Online remains as
vital as ever to bridge the digital divide, to
help people make the most of technology
and enhance their daily lives.”
Our support for the project comes from
our ‘Better Future Connected Society’
programme. The ‘Connected Society’
segment of this is our commitment to
helping people around the world gain access
to the skills, motivation and confidence they
need to get connected.
‘Get IT Together’ co-ordinators support
projects and courses across the UK and have
now helped more than 16,000 people –
mainly the elderly, disabled and unemployed
– find the confidence to get online.
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Expanding our engineer force in Yorkshire and The Humber
We recently announced our plans
to create up to 80 new engineering
jobs in Yorkshire and The Humber as
part of our major recruitment drive
across the UK.
We’re particularly looking to recruit in
York, Leeds, Bridlington and parts of
North Yorkshire, including Harrogate and
Scarborough and we have had an amazing
response with over 12000 applications
across the UK in the first five days.
Successful candidates will join our latest
intake of engineers who are working
on improving customer service and
taking high-speed fibre broadband
to even more communities.
Openreach has already made fibre
broadband available to more than 1.3
million across Yorkshire and The Humber.
As more and more people rely on the
internet there are expectations for service
increase. New engineers will help Openreach
continue to improve customer service by
installing new lines and fixing faults as
quickly as possible.
We expect a significant amount of exservicemen and women to take up the new
engineering roles – continuing our longstanding relationship with the UK Armed
Forces. Openreach is also particularly keen
to recruit more females, and has launched a
campaign encouraging women to enter the
world of engineering.
The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon David
Cameron MP, said: “Supporting business,
creating jobs and providing a better future
for hardworking people is a crucial part of
our long-term economic plan.
“So I’m delighted that BT is launching this
major recruitment drive for 1,600 engineers
across the UK, providing financial security
for families and delivering a world class
infrastructure for Britain.”
Tom Keeney, BT’s Regional Director for
Yorkshire and The Humber, said: “We’re
leading the economic recovery of Yorkshire
and The Humber as one of the region’s
largest investors. Not only are we building
a superfast broadband network, which
is giving a major boost to the region’s
households and businesses, we’re creating
highly skilled local jobs offering exciting
careers, such as those announced today.
“Working with our partners in the public
sector we’re determined to ensure
that Yorkshire and The Humber is in
the best position possible to take full
advantage of the superfast broadband
revolution. The region should be
really positive about its future.”
Helping Internet Security ‘click’ with everyone
The Right Click: Internet Safety
Matters programme was launched
at the BT Tower in London, marking
the beginning of our relationship
with UNICEF UK, the UK arm of
the world’s leading children’s
organisation. The partnership
will focus on helping parents and
children protect themselves online.
disadvantaged areas across the country.
Before the launch, we conducted research
that revealed 52% of parents with school
children aged 4– 6 felt they didn’t have
enough support, or weren’t sure they have
enough support, when it came to talking to
their children about online safety. What’s
more, a further 21% lacked the confidence
to start the conversation with their children
in the first place. No surprise, then, that
75% of parents would take further support
from their child’s school if it were offered.
During the first year, we aim to help
children in 100 schools protect themselves
online and develop their potential
using digital channels. But that’s just
the beginning. Over the three years,
we hope to eventually help and train a
total of 600 schools, reaching around
21,000 parents and children. And once
the teachers have been fully trained to
deliver our workshops independently,
we hope our combined efforts will reach
around 35,000 children and parents.
Over the course of three years, we’ll
deliver ‘train the teachers’ sessions and
workshops for parents and children filled
with practical ideas that’ll help them to
be safe online. We’ll also get involved
with UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting
Schools programme, expanding it into
In practical terms, we’ve promised 600 BT
volunteers to offer technical training on
Internet safety to teachers and parents.
We’re proud to say they’ll be the first
corporate volunteers UNICEF UK has
teamed with – a decision they took after we
inspired them with our own know-how.
Hand-in-hand with UNICEF UK – on and
offline – we’re supporting the wellbeing
of future generations. And we’re really
excited at the prospect of combining our
recognised track records to reach more
school children and teachers in some of the
UK’s most deprived areas.
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Putting wind in our UK operations’ sails
We’ve just signed three deals
that’ll provide 100 Megawatts
(MW) of renewable wind
energy to our UK operations.
The long-term Power Purchase Agreements
(PPAs) are worth £440 million. And the
energy will come from the 48-turbine
Fallago Rig wind farm 35km southeast of
Edinburgh, Lancashire’s new Heysham South
Wind Farm, and the nine-turbine Mynydd
Bwllfa Wind farm in South Wales.
Effectively, we’ve purchased 50 per cent of
the Fallago Rig’s output – enough to match
our Scottish operations’ power consumption
– in a deal worth around £300 million over
the next two decades. The 15-year, £100
million Mynydd Bwllfa agreement will
provide enough electricity for 50 per cent
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of our Welsh demand. And the 15-year deal
with the new Heysham South Wind Farm in
Lancashire is worth around £40 million.
‘New to the Planet’ agreements in Wales and
Lancashire underpinning the construction of
these two new wind farms.
It’s an important investment as we’re one
of the UK’s major electricity consumers –
and used around 2 Terawatt hours (TWh)
in 2013/14. However, we’ve now reduced
the amount of energy we need for five
consecutive years, which has saved us more
than £131 million.
“At BT, we’re as focused on cutting our own
carbon emissions as we are to providing
products and services that help everyone live
within the planet’s resources. We’ve reduced
carbon emissions from our own operations
by 25.5 per cent globally during 2013/14.
Rob Williams, our Head of Energy Supply,
said: “These large-scale, long-term
agreements are a vote of confidence in
UK renewable energy and support BT’s
continued commitment to securing all its
electricity from renewable sources.
“They not only give us long-term price
certainty; but enable us to support local
economies in which we operate, with the
“These three agreements reinforce our
commitment to make a positive contribution
to society and the environment.”
Our Better Future Report for 2013/14
demonstrates our extensive work to put
responsible and sustainable business at the
heart of our operations. These three deals
are a big step in the right direction.
For further information visit www.bt.com/
betterfuturereport.
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Welcome to the North Yorkshire superfast highway
North Yorkshire. Now a superfast
place to live and work
Our Superfast North Yorkshire partnership is
making great inroads into giving the county
a state-of-the-art broadband highway.
More than 14,000 local homes and
businesses can now benefit from fibre
broadband. MP for Richmond, William
Hague, hailed its progress at a special mobile
showcase of the technology behind the
multi-million pound roll-out at The Station
in Richmond.
He urged locals to reap the benefits of this
major investment, which is now available
in many parts of his constituency, including
Richmond, Catterick, Leyburn and Skeeby.
“Broadband is an essential part of our
present and future,” he said. “It’s vital
that we embrace this latest generation of
technology in order for our local economy to
remain competitive.”
The partnership, which we lead alongside
North Yorkshire County Council, aims to
connect 90 per cent of North Yorkshire’s
homes and businesses by the end of
2014. More than 120,000 homes and
businesses already have access – and our
own commercial roll-out covers a further
225,000.
By the time it’s done, over 2,300
engineers from Openreach will have
clocked around half a million man hours
deploying 623 new fibre cabinets and
around 10,000 kilometres of fibre. That’s
enough to stretch from York to Tokyo.
Bill Murphy, BT shows William Hague MP
around the BT Fibre Mobile Showcase on his
visit to Richmond
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Poignantly, Councillor Carl Les, Chairman of
Superfast North Yorkshire, said: “Richmond’s
own historic station had a huge impact
on the town providing accessibility and
opportunities for residents and businesses.
In today’s digitally interconnected world
it’s fibre broadband that’ll lead the way in
driving growth and opportunities for many
communities in Richmondshire.”
Bill Murphy, our Managing Director
for Next Generation Access, added:
“Superfast broadband opens the doors
to countless business opportunities,
boosting the rural areas and supporting
thriving local communities.
“Deploying broadband is a substantial
challenge but a vital one which will help local
businesses to be competitive and ensure
they remain in the area. It can also play an
important role in attracting even more firms
to an area thereby helping to create jobs for
local people.”
He’s hoping to move into the fast lane too,
by bringing a traditional taste of Yorkshire to
the world of jelly with his culinary business
venture Just Jelly.
Ryan’s business was inspired eating his
grandmother’s mint jelly as a child. “She used
her own recipe and as a kid I loved it, and
had it with most of my meals. Once I started
to get an interest in food and cooking, I
decided to have a go at making it. I started
experimenting with different flavours to give
it a modern twist.
“I sent her a selection as a gift at Christmas
and she loved them. She didn’t realise I’d
made them and even said she thought they
were better than hers, so that was the seal of
approval for me!”
Jelly maker sets milestone
She must have good taste. Ryan already sells
his jellies to delis, restaurants, gift shops
and gastro pubs across the county, and
hopes eventually to attract interest from big
supermarket chains and beyond.
Superfast North Yorkshire welcomed its
50,000 customer recently: 21 year-old Ryan
Tindall. He joined up when his village, High
Hawkser, was connected up to fibre – and
saw his home broadband race from around
1.3Mbps to a superfast 60Mbps.
And after launching Just Jelly at the start
of the year and running it from the family
home, he said: “These days, if you want to
set up on your own you have to be online
because that’s increasingly how people first
find you and buy things from you.
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Yorkshire and The Humber
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already I’ve seen a real impact on the business
and been able to take on my first member of
staff. The programme helped us to develop a
new digital business strategy and launch an
online marketing campaign which is really
making a difference and helping to attract
new customers.
“A real eye opener for me was how managing
your business reputation online can help
to boost sales. They were able to show us
effective ways of promoting the business
online – spending just 15 minutes a day –
using different social media, like LinkedIn,
Twitter and our own website.
Survey work in Settle, North Yorks
“We’re a bit out in the sticks here. So it’s
much easier to reach customers online.
Before getting fibre, the broadband
was really slow. It’s so frustrating when
you’re trying to do things like process
orders or change and upload things
quickly on the website. The great thing
about the internet is that is brings the
world right to your doorstep.”
“One of the key things the course taught me
was the importance of using online media and
our website to create trust in our brand and
having a strong online identity. This meant
creating things like a blog for the website,
posting testimonials and posting videos to
promote interaction with customers. The end
result is customers come looking for you rather
than you having to go looking for them.
Because of the Business Support Programme,
Dan’s business got a further boost in the form
of a £700 grant. “The grant we have been
awarded has really helped kick-start our
strategy and put us six months ahead of where
we thought we would be,” Dan said.
And Dan’s also looking forward to connecting
to superfast broadband in the coming weeks.
“Having high-speed broadband definitely
removes the barriers to doing business in the
digital world like online trading and helps
put you on an equal footing with larger
businesses. But you also need the skills to
exploit these new virtual markets, to sell new
products and to try new models. That is the
competitive edge that the Business Support
Programme was able to give us.”
Business Advisor Amanda Rowen, who
worked closely with Dan to help him find
the best course, said: “What the programme
demonstrates is that technology isn’t just for
the creative industries, but that new online
ways of working can benefit everyone – and
all of them are made better and easier with the
use of faster fibre broadband.”
Amanda added: “As the roll-out of fibre
gathers pace the issue is becoming less about
whether or not a small business has access to
the right technology and tools and more about
how best they can use them as they become
more widely available.”
Superfast North Yorkshire helps
Malton business sprint ahead
A Malton-based firm credited Superfast North
Yorkshire when it took on its first employee
and put a digital business strategy into action.
New sportswear company Pro-Am Kits Ltd is
the latest business to complete a speciallytailored programme offering free business
support and advice. Run by Superfast North
Yorkshire, it helps businesses harness the
potential of high speed fibre broadband.
Pro-Am Kits was the 1,000th small business
to complete the scheme since it launched in
January 2013.
Managing Director, Dan Hodgson, 34, says it
marked the beginning of a new chapter for
the sportswear company. “It’s been just about
a month since I completed the course and
intouch Yorkshire and The Humber | Summer 2014
Amanda Rowan, Business Advisor presenting the certificate to Pro-Am Kits Ltd who became
the 1000th business customer to complete the business advice programme
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Yorkshire and The Humber
intouch Summer 2014
Calderdale – flying the flag for Superfast West Yorkshire
Three months ahead of schedule,
we’re pleased to announce that
The Old Fountain Brewery housing
estate, in Halifax, has become
the first place to benefit from the
Superfast West Yorkshire fibre
broadband programme.
This is great news for Calderdale. As the
programme rolls out to more locations across
West Yorkshire, thousands more homes and
businesses in the area will have access to
high-speed fibre broadband.
Warmly welcomed by Linda Riordan, MP
for Halifax, who said: “This is great news for
the countless local residents and businesses
who’ll benefit. The welcome investment
in faster broadband speeds is good for
business, good for the local community and
good for the local economy. I know this will
be the first of many investment programmes
across Halifax.
“It’s vital that local residents and
local businesses get faster broadband
connections, so any programme that delivers
on that as well as boosting the Halifax
economy gets my wholehearted support.”
We’re working with Leeds City, Bradford
Metropolitan District, Wakefield and
Calderdale Council to make the most of the
£2.5 billion we’re investing into rollingout fibre broadband to two-thirds of UK
premises. We’ve also launched a Business
Support Programme with Kirklees Council
to show how targeted support can help
business’ turn faster broadband speeds into
long-term growth. That’s huge, considering
those regions in West Yorkshire aren’t
currently included in the private sector’s
commercial plans.
Ed Vaizey, Communications Minister,
said: “Today marks the next stage in the
transformation of broadband in West
Yorkshire. Thousands more homes and
businesses in West Yorkshire will benefit
intouch Yorkshire and The Humber | Summer 2014
Linda Riordan, MP inspects the fibre cabinet at The Old Fountain Brewery housing estate, in Halifax
from access to superfast speeds by the end
of March 2015 as a result of government’s
investment, providing a huge boost to the
local economy.”
technology will offer new educational,
training and leisure opportunities,
keeping you up to speed with the latest
developments around the world.
Ian Gray, Chair of the Superfast West
Yorkshire project board, said: “I’m delighted
we’ve reached this milestone which is so vital
for West Yorkshire, and for Calderdale. It’s
essential for our local businesses if they are
to compete on a level playing field; for our
efforts to attract inward investment and to
create and protect local jobs. It’s also critical
for our rural residents, so that they can enjoy
the same internet benefits as those living in
more urban areas.
Bill Murphy, our Managing Director of
Next Generation Access, said: “In the
modern world, digital connectivity is as
important as having access to electricity
and running water. 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.
“Most important of all, however, is the
benefits it will bring to the next generation.
This programme will give our children access
to the interactive learning and research
which they need to achieve their potential.”
How does this affect your community?
Well, with our investment, we aim to
boost local economies with high-speed
fibre broadband, helping to create and
protect local jobs. In turn, this improves
local business’ connections to the wider
world, meaning you can reap the benefits
of being more competitive, both in the UK
and further abroad. And it’s the same for
day-to-day households too – high-speed
“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.”
It’s certainly creating a lot of interest. 4,500
people already receive regular updates and
support from our reliable team – experts who
pinpoint and service specific areas to ensure
they receive high-speed broadband.
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Yorkshire and The Humber
intouch Summer 2014
Northern Lincs broadband celebrates first birthday
Northern Lincs Broadband, the
multi-million pound, Programme,
is celebrating its first birthday.
And they’ve announced that
they’ve helped more than 7,000
homes and businesses get
high-speed fibre broadband as
a result of the programme.
Part-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund, the programme is
now halfway through the first phase of
its roll-out and the network is growing
rapidly. Scawby Brook was the first
community to benefit when high-speed
broadband arrived in March. Since then,
fibre engineers have been working in
Epworth, Great Coates, Bottesford, Ashby,
Brigg, Barton-upon-Humber, Riddings,
Yaddlethorpe, Scartho and many more.
And they expect to reach a further
7,000 North and North East Lincolnshire
premises by the end of September.
Cllr Neil Poole, Cabinet Member for Policy
and Resources, said: “The Northern Lincs
Broadband project is already proving to be a
success and we’re only a year in. Its fantastic
that thousands more homes and businesses
can access high-speed broadband and reap
the many benefits that it brings. It is a great
step forward for Northern Lincolnshire and
means that more opportunities will become
available for businesses through improved
online communication.
“Our Business Support team is doing a
brilliant job of providing businesses with the
skills and knowledge to market their business
online and make the most of the internet
to develop their business. I’m sure the next
year is going to be just as successful.”
The Northern Lincs Broadband programme
will build on the £2.5 billion we invested
into getting fibre broadband into two-thirds
of UK premises. Brigg, Barton on Humber,
Healing, Grimsby, Messingham, Scartho and
Scunthorpe are already connected.
The plan is to have more than 92
per cent of North and North-East
Lincolnshire premises on high-speed
technology by the end of June 2015.
As part of the Northern Lincs Broadband
Programme, engineers from our local
network business, Openreach, have so far
laid more than 100 kilometres of optical
fibre cable. And by the end of the project
they’ll have installed more than 150 new
fibre broadband cabinets in streets the
length and breadth of Northern Lincolnshire.
Tom Keeney, our BT Regional Director for
Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Investment
in fibre and faster broadband speeds will
be a key part of Northern Lincolnshire’s
future economic growth. Broadband is now
seen as an essential rather than a luxury.
Despite the recent economic downturn,
broadband numbers have continued to
increase, not least because people see it as
a route to jobs and markets. It provides the
cornerstone for prosperous communities
– helping local people build their skills
and knowledge and encouraging the
creation of new businesses and jobs.”
Local film company, Let There Be Light
Productions, have noticed the benefits of
fibre broadband. Hugh Mann Adamson,
Managing Director, said: “With good upload
and download speeds, we don’t need to
meet clients at all. We often use Skype to
speak to clients, not just in this country but
abroad too. Recently we used the internet to
speak to a client who’s in Spain. Nowadays,
if someone wants to know more about your
company, you need a fully-functioning
website. Faster speeds help businesses
websites to work much better.”
The high-speed network installed by
Openreach is available on an open,
wholesale basis to all companies offering
broadband services.
Northern Lincs Broadband now also
offers free business support to help
eligible small businesses. IT specialists and
business advisors give companies advice
and support on saving time, money;
improving efficiency and maximising
the benefits of improved connectivity.
Celebrating North Lincs broadband first birthday
intouch Yorkshire and The Humber | Summer 2014
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