What is the Making Kent Quicker Programme? The Making Kent Quicker Programme covers a range of projects that Kent County Council is leading to improve broadband infrastructure. These include the Kent and Medway Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) Contract 1 project, which is currently being rolled out, and is aiming to: Provide superfast broadband (i.e. a speed of least 24Mbps) to over 120,000 properties across Kent so, when combined with commercial rollouts, at least 91% of premises across Kent should be able to access superfast broadband services. Bring a standard broadband service of at least 2Mpbs in the project area the minimum speed that the Government says should be available in every home and business. BT has been contracted to deliver this work. We are also working with the Government s Broadband Agency, BDUK on a second project to further extend the reach of superfast broadband services (known as Contract 2). This is part of BDUK s national superfast extension programme which is seeking to ensure that at least 95% of properties across the UK can access superfast broadband by the end of 2017. The procurement process is now complete and the Openreach team are taking forward the high level planning and design work for the project. Given that this project is focusing on hard-to-reach areas, this will take time. The Openreach team have advised Kent County Council that this work should be complete by the end of summer so that we can publish an updated postcode checker and interactive map in September. This will include the areas we expect to benefit and the timescales involved from the new Contract 2 work. Build on the new project will start in early January 2016. Who is BDUK? Broadband Delivery UK is the Government s broadband agency. Why is this work needed? Without our Making Kent Quicker Project many businesses and communities would continue to have either no or slow broadband services as there are no commercial/market-led plans to upgrade infrastructure in many parts of the County. The Making Kent Quicker Programme is focusing on these areas. How much is Kent investing? Given the importance of broadband connectivity to Kent s businesses and rural communities, Kent County Council is investing 10 million in the BDUK Contract 1 project. For every 1 of Kent money being invested the Council has leveraged nearly 3 from other sources (approximately 1 from central government and 2 from BT). We are also investing 5.6 million in our new, Contract 2 BDUK project, which is being matched with a further 5.6 million from the Government.
Which areas will benefit from Kent County Council s broadband upgrade work? The Making Kent Quicker Programme is focusing on providing upgrades to those areas that have slow or poor broadband and will not receive better broadband services through existing commercial/market-led plans to upgrade broadband infrastructure. We are particularly keen to ensure that no area misses out. As a result we have undertaken extensive consultation with operators and asked all broadband providers to confirm and provide robust evidence as to which premises in Kent and Medway they are currently able, or plan, to serve. Why is this work not delivering superfast broadband for all properties? To date our Making Kent Quicker Project work has brought better broadband to over 110,000 homes and businesses across Kent. Although this has created a real step change in rural broadband connectivity, it will not be possible to reach every property in identified areas of market failure with our existing project work due to the costs involved. However, KCC remains committed to working with BDUK to realise our shared ambition of wanting all rural communities to have access to superfast broadband services. To help support the development of new and more affordable solutions, BDUK is leading 6 smallscale field trials across the UK of new technological approaches for delivering superfast broadband services in final 5% areas. We understand that the findings of this work will be used by BDUK to inform the development of a new national programme to bring faster broadband to communities that will not benefit from Contract 1 or Contract 2 project work. My property is in the project area. When will I get better broadband? Kent County Council has made significant progress in delivering the Kent and Medway BDUK Contract 1, since it began in March 2013, and the project remains on track. Over 110,000 homes and businesses have so far benefited from the upgrade work which would have otherwise been left with poor broadband connectivity. Details of which areas have gone live to date are published on our postcode checker at www.kent.gov.uk/broadband How is the roll out plan being decided? We want to achieve the best possible broadband coverage for Kent and Medway with the resources available. To achieve this, the network is being designed and built in the most technically efficient and cost effective way to maximise speed and coverage. The rollout plan will take into account many factors such as existing infrastructure, planning requirements, local demographics and geography. Given the size of the project, it is not possible to plan every area at the same time, so some areas will be planned and enabled before others. Why can t the project be delivered faster? This work represents one of Kent s largest infrastructure projects and has an ambitious timescale for completion. The BDUK Contract 1 Project build, alone, involves laying over 7,000 km of fibre optic
cable, installing over 5,000 fibre distribution points and more than 1.4 million hours of construction time. We are acutely aware of the frustrations that many rural communities and businesses have with their current broadband connections and are committed to delivering this project as soon as possible. We are particularly pleased that the delivery of the BDUK Contract 1 project has remained slightly ahead of schedule since it started in March 2013 and we are keen to maintain this momentum in the delivery of new Contract 2 project. As BT is installing the network will I have to use BT as my Internet Service Provider? No. The infrastructure upgrades being funded by this project are being built by Openreach (BT s local network business) and will be open access. This means that any Internet Service Provider can choose to use the infrastructure to provide customers with new services. Currently around 80 communications providers offer fibre broadband services over BT s network. This will enable Kent residents and businesses to choose the provider and broadband package that best suits their needs. To find out more about available broadband services please visit www.kent.gov.uk/broadband/broadband-services Will my existing Internet Service Provider offer me the new broadband services? Any Internet Service Provider can choose to use the infrastructure to provide customers with new services. You will need to check with your current Internet Service Provider to see what products they are prepared to offer. What do I need to do to access the new services when they become available? Once services are available in your area you will need to contact your ISP to find out if they are offering a fibre-based service and tell them you wish to upgrade. What might cause changes to planned deployment? During the network design and build phases, technical problems may be encountered which means that the planned implementation is either not technically or financially viable, or will take longer than anticipated. Such issues may arise from surveys where practical problems are identified (such as ducts being blocked) which require more work than originally anticipated. Why is my postcode featured in a commercial rollout programme? What does this mean? If your property is listed under the postcode checker or interactive map as being in a commercial roll out programme then this means that your property will be receiving fibre-based broadband from a telecommunications company. This will be funded by the company s own investment. Such commercial rollouts in Kent include BT, Sky and Virgin Media. Being covered in the commercial rollout means that your property does not feature in the Make Kent Quicker project and you will need to contact the listed provider for further details on deployment and faster broadband availability to your area.
What is the difference between basic standard broadband and superfast services? Basic standard broadband delivers a minimum of 2Mbps speed to a property. Superfast broadband will deliver speeds of 24Mbps and above. I can see I am eligible for better broadband. Why should I change to superfast? Are there many benefits? There are a range of benefits that you will see if you switch to a better broadband package. Faster speeds mean that multiple users can be online at the same time, quicker downloads, improved online streaming to just name a few. Many who switch to better broadband find it easier to work from home as well. Why can t you give me an exact date that I will be able to receive better broadband? This is one of Kent s largest infrastructure projects and due to its size, it s not possible to plan every area at the same time, so some areas will be enabled before others. As we deliver the rollout we re working closely with our partners to take into account all the factors that may have an impact on the speed of delivery. In order to increase engineering efficiency in some cases we may adjust the detail in some phases of the rollout to ensure we make best use of the limited resources we have available. We appreciate how frustrating it can be to not get the information you need, so we ll keep updating our information as often as we can as our plans develop. Will I get better broadband automatically when my cabinet goes live? No, you will not receive better broadband automatically. Once your cabinet goes live you will need to contact your internet service provider and ask to be upgraded, which is likely to involve an increase in price to your existing contract. They will let you know whether they have a package available to offer you and then arrange for an engineer to visit your home. The postcode checker states that I am not currently in line to get superfast broadband. What does this mean for me? The Openreach team are currently undertaking the high level planning/design work for our second BDUK project. This will further extend the availability of better broadband services with the aim of increasing the availability of superfast broadband services to over 95% of homes and businesses. Given that this project will be delivering in particularly hard to reach areas, this planning work will take time. The Openreach team have advised that this work should be complete by the end of summer. This should enable us to be able to publish indicative plans in September, outlining the areas we expect to benefit and the timescales involved including an updated postcode checker and map. The project will start at the beginning of January and we are committed to delivering these upgrades as quickly as possible. BDUK are keen to ensure that 95% of homes and businesses across the UK have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017. The postcode checker states that I am in line to get standard broadband. What does this mean?
The Government has set a target for all homes and businesses to have access to a standard broadband service of at least 2mbps by the end of 2015. KCC shares this ambition of wanting to eradicate broadband not spots (areas with no or very poor broadband access). In 2014, BDUK commissioned a number of small-scale pilots to test new technological approaches for delivering superfast broadband in final 5% areas i.e. those areas which are unlikely to benefit from either the BDUK Contract 1 or Contract 2 work due to the upgrade costs involved. BDUK is currently reviewing the best way of delivering this access to a basic broadband service of at least 2mbps and we are expecting an announcement on the agreed way forward later this summer. In particular, they are keen to take on board the learning of the innovation pilots and see whether there is an opportunity to offer options to deliver faster speeds for homes and businesses in these areas within the current national programme of work. How do I optimise my current speeds? You can get advice about optimising your broadband speeds from: Increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk Ofcom