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Onlincolnshire extends superfast rural broadband to 89 per cent with extra cash

Lincolnshire is to get a further £2.8 million in funding to bring superfast broadband to thousands more premises in the county.

It is hoped the money will help the county reach a target of 89 per cent of all homes and businesses being able to access superfast broadband.

Three organisations have stumped up money for the Onlincolnshire project: the European Regional Development Fund (£1.6 million), Lincolnshire County Council (£510,000) and BT (£680,000).

Lincolnshire County Council signed a £48 million contract with BT to deliver the onlincolnshire programme in March last year. The original target was to bring fibre broadband to at least 88 per cent of all premises.

BT’s own commercial deployment has made the fibre available to around 167,000 Lincolnshire homes and businesses.

Councillor Colin Davie, executive member for Economic Development, said: “Thanks to this new investment, more than 5,000 properties will be able to benefit from fibre broadband, with around 4,000 getting superfast speeds.

“That means, at the end of project, over 89 per cent of the county will be able to take advantage of all the benefits that superfast broadband connections have to offer.”

Bill Murphy, BT’s managing director for next generation access, said: “Hard work and commitment to this project has secured further investment which will bring fibre broadband to thousands more homes and businesses in Lincolnshire.

“The most important aim is to ensure as many people as possible can benefit from fibre broadband, so this is great news for both businesses and consumers in the county.”

Even with the additional funding and extra work, it is hoped the project will be completed by the end of April 2016.

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