BT has won yet another rural broadband deal. This time a £30 million contract with Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council has been awarded to the telco, which has won every other similar government-backed contract.
BT kept its iron grip on regional fibre broadband deals with the announcement of two further projects in the south-west last week.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough say more than 90 percent of homes and businesses will be able to receive fibre broadband to at least 24mbps, with basic broadband (2mbps minimum) offered to almost everyone else, by 2015.
Cambridgeshire County Council has committed up to £20 million to the programme together with up to £3 million from Peterborough City Council, and an allocation of £6.75 million government funding has come from BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK).
It is estimated that without the BT deal around a third of premises in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough would still be unable to access faster broadband services by 2015.
Cambridgeshire County Council leader Nick Clarke said: "We are making a significant investment at a time when public finances are under pressure but this is the right thing to do for the people and businesses of Cambridgeshire, for now and in the long term."
The final contract is due to be signed in March 2013. Schedules for rolling out the new broadband infrastructure will be drawn up and agreed with BT as soon as possible after the contract signing, said Cambridgeshire.
BT posted a disappointing third quarter last week with both sales and pre-tax profits down.