North East
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 provides 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
fibre broadband

Newcastle 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
Farooq Hakim, Regional Director for the
North East
farooq.hakim@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
Cumbria village first to
 benefit from county fibre
plan

Fibre broadband goes live in
Whitley Bay

BT volunteers win support for
community groups

Super-fast broadband boost
for Amble
North East
intouch Autumn 2013
Newcastle looks forward to super-fast future
Newcastle City Council has signed
a multi-million pound contract
with us to extend the availability of
high-speed fibre broadband to 97
per cent of homes and businesses in
Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Go Digital programme will build on our
£2.5 billion commercial roll-out, which will
reach two-thirds of UK premises by the end
of spring 2014. This investment has already
brought fibre broadband to parts of central
Newcastle, West Newcastle, Gosforth,
Jesmond, Lemington and Wideopen, with
Denton Burn and Kenton shortly to follow.
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 offers the top current download speed
of 330Mbps, is also starting to become
commercially available on demand in certain
areas where fibre broadband has been rolled
out.
The project will boost the local economy,
and help to create or protect local jobs. It will
be of particular benefit to local businesses,
which can use the faster speeds to improve
their competitiveness both within the UK and
abroad.
Sarat Pediredla is the managing director of
Newcastle-based Hedgehog Lab, a company
which designs, develops and markets apps and
digital solutions for post-PC devices such as
mobile phones, tablets and TV. He said: “Fibre
is absolutely crucial for our day-to-day work,
which often involves both downloading and
uploading huge files. It is vital that we have a
rapid internet connection as it enables us to
deliver to our customers in minutes rather than
hours.
enables us and other businesses to compete
further afield. Although around 90 per cent
of our customer base is in London fibre means
we can give them a top-quality, speedy service
from our North East base.”
The new network will be open to all
communications providers on an equal
wholesale basis, meaning firms and households
will benefit from a highly competitive market.
For further information on the roll-out, visit
www.godigitalnewcastle.co.uk
Similar contracts have also just been signed
covering West Yorkshire and the East Riding
of Yorkshire; Merseyside; Derbyshire,
Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire;
Worcestershire; Berkshire and Oxfordshire;
Essex, Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire.
“Newcastle is a great location to set up
business. It has a vibrant technology
community, access to skilled labour and
business costs that are significantly lower than
other major cities. Adding fibre to that list
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.
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.
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.
Nigel Ashcroft, Superfast Cornwall programme
director for the Cornwall Development
Company, said: “The economic benefits of the
infrastructure investment will grow over time,
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.
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
North East
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.
North East
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. We 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
North East
intouch Autumn 2013
Cumbria village first to benefit from county fibre plan
A village in Cumbria is celebrating
becoming the first community
to have access to super-fast
broadband under a scheme set to
make the county one of the best
connected places in Europe.
Thanks to Connecting Cumbria – a
partnership between Cumbria County
Council and ourselves – more than 120
properties in Yanwath, in the Eden Valley, are
now enjoying the faster speeds.
The recent switch-on of a new fibre-enabled
streetside cabinet in Yanwath marked
the completion of the first in a wave of
infrastructure upgrades in rural areas which
will make high-speed fibre broadband
available to 93 per cent of premises in
Cumbria by the end of 2015.
Bill Murphy, Managing Director, Next
Generation Access, BT, said: “This is
an important landmark and illustrates
our determination to get this exciting
technology to more challenging locations.”
Current speeds in the area through the
existing copper network are typically less
than 3Mbps, but speeds will increase to
24Mbps or more for most homes in the
village.
Among the local firms looking to take
advantage of the opportunities offered by
super-fast broadband is a textile design and
millinery business run by Victoria Relph. She
said: “Being able to upload bigger, clearer,
more detailed images – and more quickly –
will make such a difference to me, and to the
many other studio-based designers who live
in Cumbria.”
BT’s Bill Murphy, left, with Victoria Relph and Councillor
David Southward
BT’s Bill Murphy and Councillor David Southward, with
children from Yanwath village school
Fibre broadband goes live in Whitley Bay
Thousands of homes and businesses
in Whitley Bay now have access to
high-speed fibre broadband – and
this figure will increase to more than
17,500 once engineering work is
completed.
The seaside town follows Killingworth,
Wallsend and Benton, where the technology is
already available. By the end of spring 2014,
around 59,000 premises in North Tyneside will
be able to benefit from our £2.5 billion fibre
programme.
BT’s Farooq Hakim and Alan Campbell, MP for
Tynemouth
Alan Campbell, MP for Tynemouth, said: “This
is a big step forward for Whitley Bay. At a
time when the local economy needs a boost,
BT’s investment in fibre broadband offers
the potential for new services and business
growth. A high-speed digital connection is also
going to be an important factor in the ongoing
regeneration of the coast.”
Farooq Hakim, BT Regional Director, added:
“Our roll-out of fibre broadband continues
at a world-class pace in the North East,
with Whitley Bay the latest place to benefit.
More than 1.7 million homes and businesses
across the UK are already using our new
fibre network. Local residents now have the
opportunity to join them and find out for
themselves why there’s such a buzz about fibre
broadband.”
Our fibre footprint currently passes more than
16 million UK homes and businesses. It’s 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.
Openreach is primarily deploying Fibre to the
Cabinet (FTTC) technology, which provides
download speeds of up to 80Mbps and
upload speeds of up to 20Mbps. However,
it is also making Fibre to the Premises (FTTP)
technology, which offers the top current
download speed of 330Mbps, commercially
available on demand in certain areas where
fibre broadband has been rolled out. According
to the regulator Ofcom, the current average
UK residential broadband download speed is
14.7Mbps.
Unlike other companies, Openreach offers
fibre broadband access to all service providers
on an open, wholesale basis, underpinning a
competitive market. For further information
on the Openreach programme, visit www.
superfast-openreach.co.uk
North East
intouch Autumn 2013
BT volunteers win support for community groups
The company is rewarding
organisations and community groups
across the North East 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.
Seven groups in the North East have
received funds to help them to continue
their work in the community including
Whitley Bay Young People’s Centre, North
Shields Amateur Boxing Club, Redhouse
Farm Junior Football Club in and 1st
Dinnington Scouts.
Farooq Hakim, 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
Super-fast broadband boost for Amble
More than 2000 homes and
businesses in Amble now have access
to the high-speed technology – and
this figure will increase to around
3,250 as engineers complete the
local upgrade in the weeks ahead.
The BT investment was welcomed by Julia
Aston, director of the Amble Development
Trust. She said: “This is wonderful news for
Amble. The improved infrastructure providing
superfast broadband will aide existing
businesses, helping them to grow by giving
them a level playing field with city based
companies.
“It will hopefully encourage new ones to
relocate to the town, when they see the
opportunity of achieving that elusive work
life balance. After all why would anyone want
to live in the city when they can have it all in
Amble?”
The project, iNorthumberland, will see 95 per
cent of Northumberland homes and businesses
gain access to fibre broadband speeds of up to
80Mbps by the end of January 2016.
Seaton Delaval and Berwick are also due to be
upgraded and by the end of Spring 2014 more
than 98,000 homes and businesses across
Northumberland will able to benefit as a result
of BT’s £2.5 billion fibre roll-out programme.
Farooq Hakim, BT Regional Director for the
North East, said: “This is exciting news for
everyone who lives and works in Amble. Fibre
broadband will open the doors to countless
business opportunities, boosting the economy
and supporting the thriving local community.
BT is also working in partnership with
Northumberland County Council to reach
parts of Northumberland that lie outside its
commercial footprint. In April 2013 BT signed
a £18.9 million deal to transform broadband
speeds for businesses and residents across the
county .
“It is great news for residents who will be
able to access new job opportunities, and
shop around for cheaper services. Fibre is
transforming the way we use the internet at
home, from communicating with family and
friends to entertainment, shopping and online
gaming.”