North East
intouch Summer 2014
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.
Farooq Hakim, Regional Director for the
North East farooq.hakim @bt.com.
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
intouch North East | Summer 2014

The start-up of
something wonderful

Full speed ahead after
fibre first
 BT’s 2020 Vision

Putting wind in our UK
operations’ sails

Helping Internet Security
‘click’ with everyone

Expanding our engineer
force in the North East
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.
Openreach Superfast fibre
website update
 We’re festival headliners
I hope you will enjoy reading about what we
are doing both nationally and regionally.
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.

Putting more of
 iNorthumberland on the
superfast map
• 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.
 Work begins in Weardale
More information can be found here:
http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/
where-and-when/.
 All systems Go in Newcastle
1
North East
intouch Summer 2014
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.
intouch North East | Summer 2014
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.
2
North East
intouch Summer 2014
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.
Farooq Hakim, Regional Director for the
North East, said: “All the finalists
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
intouch North East | Summer 2014
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.
3
North East
intouch Summer 2014
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.
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
intouch North East | Summer 2014
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.
4
North East
intouch Summer 2014
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.
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 disadvantaged areas across
the country.
with – a decision they took after we inspired
them with our own know-how.
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.
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
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.
Expanding our engineer force in the North East
We’re creating up to 80 new
engineering jobs in the North
East. It’s part of a major UK
recruitment drive to find 1,600
engineers to improve our customer
service further still, and bring
high-speed fibre broadband
to even more communities.
service targets. We have had an amazing
response with over 12000 applications
across the UK in the first five days.
As more and more people rely on the
internet, the new engineers will help us
to install new lines and fix faults more
quickly, so we can give them ever-better
reliability. It’s something that will be very
much front of mind for us, as Openreach,
starting this summer, will publish regular
reports on how we’re delivering against
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.
intouch North East | Summer 2014
We expect ex-servicemen and women
to take on a significant number of the
roles, continuing our long-standing
relationship with the UK Armed Forces.
But Openreach is also particularly
keen to recruit more females, and
has launched a targeted campaign
promoting the world of engineering.
“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.”
Farooq Hakim, our North East Regional
Director, said: “BT is leading the economic
recovery of the North East 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 the
North East is in the best position possible
to take full advantage of the superfast
broadband revolution. The opportunities for
businesses to grow and for households to
benefit from enhanced online learning and
entertainment are immense.”
5
North East
intouch Summer 2014
Putting more of iNorthumberland on the superfast map
Our work on the iNorthumberland
broadband programme is really
paying dividends for local residents
across the area.
then can send and receive data.
We’re contributing £2.9m towards
the project. And together with £16m
from Northumberland County Council
(through Arch), the government’s
Broadband Delivery UK programme and
the European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF), the money will bring
superfast broadband to areas not currently
featured in commercial roll-out plans.
More than 600 homes and businesses in
Beadnell now have access to high-speed
fibre technology, and many have already
placed orders with broadband service
providers. Next up are homes and businesses
in nearby Seahouses and North Sunderland.
Beadnell hotel boosted by super-fast
fibre broadband
A hotel in Beadnell is transforming the way
it does business, after iNorthumberland’s
broadband reached the coastal village.
The Beadnell Towers Hotel placed its order
the day the new technology went live and
owner, Mick Colvin, now enjoys superfast
speeds of around 40Mbps: “Fibre broadband
has made a big improvement to the
business. I can move around from site to site
so much quicker and promote free Wi-Fi to
guests and diners. Our customers are really
impressed with the speeds and how quickly
“Keeping guests and staff up-to-date via
our Facebook and Twitter page is almost
instantaneous, all of which frees up my time
for other work and makes life much easier.”
John Woodman, Councillor for Bamburgh
Division, said: “Rolling out fibre
broadband will make a big difference
to businesses and the economic
development of the area so I’m delighted
the roll-out has arrived in Beadnell.
“Improving our infrastructure is
one of the emerging themes of our
neighbourhood plan and it shows that
community involvement and persistence
really can make a difference.”
Cllr Dave Ledger, Chairman of Arch and
Deputy Leader of Northumberland County
Council, said: “Our aim is to bring faster
broadband speeds to every home, business
and school in Northumberland.
“Even in this early stage of the programme,
we’re hearing very positive stories from
local people and businesses about the
benefits faster broadband speeds are
bringing to them. We look forward to
making the same difference to many
more Northumberland communities
in the weeks and months ahead.”
Wooler and Linton go ‘woo-hoo!’
for superfast broadband
Elsewhere, Linton and Wooler are now
also enjoying the best of superfast
broadband. More than 1,200 homes
and businesses now have access. And we
expect to add another 300 properties
in Wooler in the coming weeks.
The iNorthumberland investment was
welcomed by Peter McIntyre, Arch Group
Managing Director, “The community of
Linton should be proud that they’re at
the forefront in the rural roll-out of fibre
broadband, and grasp all the benefits and
opportunities this new technology can bring.
Anthony Murray, Councillor for Wooler,
added, “Being in such a rural area, faster
communications will help businesses to
stimulate growth. And at home, residents
can do more online at faster speeds and on
multiple devices.
Laying the fibre in Northumberland
intouch North East | Summer 2014
6
North East
intouch Summer 2014
Work begins in Weardale
Digital Durham recently announced
that parts of Weardale will soon
have superfast broadband. It’s a big
step for the £25m initiative on their
road to transforming broadband
speeds for businesses and residents
across County Durham, Gateshead,
Sunderland and Tees Valley.
Engineers from Openreach have just started
upgrading the BT exchange in Frosterley.
And they’ll be working hard to hit their
target of connecting the first of more than
5,000 homes and businesses early next year.
First, they’ll change and upgrade equipment
within the exchange building itself. It’s a big
undertaking. After all, the last time the site
saw an upgrade was when it moved from
analogue to digital – in 1985.
when eight local authorities, including
Durham County Council, agreed a deal with
us to extend high-speed fibre broadband
availability to around 94 per cent of
premises by the end of 2016.
The initial deal saw our £5.9m investment
added to £7.8m from Durham County
Council and Gateshead, £9.1m of
government funding from Broadband
Delivery UK (BDUK), and £1.3 million
contribution from public sector partners in
Sunderland and Tees Valley.
Since then, a further £1m from the Rural
Community Broadband Fund has helped
the initiative grow, and meant we can
aim to connect 98 per cent of County
Durham. And we’re still looking at how
further funding could improve life for
people throughout the area too.
Ultimately, we want all the people we
supply to enjoy speed of at least 2Mbps.
But most will receive fibre-to-the-cabinet
(FTTC) technology, where the fibre runs
from the telephone exchange as far as
the nearest BT street cabinet. This set-up
delivers impressive speeds of up to 80Mbps,
including up to 20Mbps upload. Better
still, some businesses will get fibre-to-thepremises (FTTP) technology, where the fibre
runs all the way to the home or business, and
speeds of up to 330Mbps.
It’s a truly exciting time for the area, and
we can’t wait to see the opportunities these
speeds will bring.
Later in the year, the team will install new
fibre optic management systems. This work
will be carried out in tandem with the huge
civil engineering challenge of laying around
60km of underground ducts to carry about
7,000km of fibre cabling.
Derek Richardson, Openreach’s Project
Director for Next Generation Access in
the North East, will oversee the work:
“Extensive planning has already taken
place to ensure that this work quickly
and efficiently brings benefits to as
many people as possible in Weardale.”
Communities in the Tow Law area will
be the first to enjoy the service. They’ll
be followed by homes and businesses
in Frosterley, Wearhead, Stanhope,
Wolsingham, Eastgate and more.
Cllr Jane Brown, Durham County Council’s
Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services,
said: “Bringing superfast broadband to rural
areas is a challenge. Work has now started to
overcome that challenge and bring the latest
broadband technology to Weardale.”
Digital Durham started life in April 2013,
intouch North East | Summer 2014
Openreach engineer Kieran Byrne working on the Digital Durham project in Durham
7
North East
intouch Summer 2014
All systems Go in Newcastle
NEWCASTLE marked a key milestone
in the city’s superfast broadband
roll-out by launching the first fibre
cabinet as part of the Go Digital
Newcastle programme.
Pupils from Walker Technology College
were on hand to add a dash of superpower
to the occasion as they officially unveiled
their new fibre cabinet. The green street
cabinet on Wyedale Way in Walker
was hooked up to the fibre network
by Openreach and will give residents
broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps.
Communications Minister Ed Vaizey, said:
“This is great news and marks the beginning
of the transformation of broadband in
Newcastle, which is on track to deliver access
to superfast speeds to 97 per cent of the city
by Summer 2015.
Homes and businesses in Walker, Byker,
Cochrane Park, Manor Park, Elswick, South
Benwell and Fenham will be upgraded over
the next few weeks, in the first phase of the
multi-million pound programme.
Cllr Ged Bell, Cabinet Member for
Investment and Development for Newcastle
City Council, said: “We’re delighted to be
here to mark this significant step in the Go
Digital Newcastle project. We’re improving
superfast broadband availability across the
city in six phases between now and next
summer, with this cabinet here in Walker
among the first to go live.
“This first phase of the project will make
it available to around 1,400 premises in
the city over the coming weeks, and local
people who choose to sign up to a superfast
package will find huge benefits. For
instance, they’ll be able to stream highdefinition movies and music far quicker,
access public services more easily and video
chat with family and friends around the
world on Skype.”
The Go Digital Newcastle programme is run
by Newcastle City Council with government
intouch North East | Summer 2014
Pupils from Walker Technology College were on hand to add a dash of superpower as they
officially unveiled their new fibre cabinet.
funding from Broadband Delivery UK.
We’ve invested £1.89 million too, to
help Newcastle become one of the bestconnected cities in the UK.
The programme builds on our commercial
investment, which has already brought fibre
broadband to many locations including
Central Newcastle, West Newcastle,
Gosforth, Jesmond, Lemington and
Wideopen. By the end of summer 2015,
fibre broadband will be available to 97 per
cent of the city.
Simon Roberson, our Regional Partnership
Director for the North East, added: “Every
day the number of services delivered to
us online – whether to entertain, educate
or meet our daily needs – is growing, and
more and more of them need fast reliable
broadband to work properly.
Nearby Walker Technology College already
has an excellent broadband connection. But
Head Teacher, Mike Collier, said that faster
home broadband is great news: “The internet
now touches every part of the curriculum,
with pupils using it every day for everything
from interactive exercises to doing online
research for school projects and a variety of
other schoolwork.
“Without fast connectivity and speeds there
is the risk that children will miss out on
what is now an essential learning tool. As
a technology college we’re excited by the
prospect of Newcastle being one of the UK’s
most well connected cities – it’s a real asset
to the whole region.”
It’s predicted that superfast broadband will
provide a huge boost to the local economy.
Small and medium businesses in the city, as
well as charities and social enterprises, can
apply for a voucher worth up to £3,000 to
get connected to improved broadband.
They can also get up to £2,000 of funding
for equipment, and free expert business
support to help them make the most of the
new connections.
8