After months of uncertainty a deal was finally struck for the provision of superfast broadband throughout the county. Some final details have to be confirmed but what follows is extracted from the County Council press release from Thursday 13 September:
"Today, as part of the Connecting Cumbria Strategy, Cumbria County Council¹s Cabinet have awarded a major contact to BT Global Services. The contract will provide essential infrastructure that will help support the delivery of Connecting Cumbria which ultimately seeks to provide superfast broadband to residents and businesses in Cumbria.
"The Connecting Cumbria project is now on track to deliver over £70 million of external investment into Cumbria. £23m has already been secured as a result of successful grants including £17.1m from the government agency Broadband Delivery UK and the project is still awaiting confirmation on a further bid of £15.4m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). On top of this a further £30m of new and additional investment into the county by BT has been secured as a direct result of the Connecting Cumbria initiative. This will ensure over 93% of the county has access to superfast broadband by the end of 2015."
Lois Sparling - Broadband Champion