One bidder equals to poor choice of broadband deals, says North Yorkshire.
It referred to the fact that BT was the only company keen on rolling out fibre, seeing as Fujitsu was slowly exiting the broadband deployment game in some areas.
Counties have been busy cooking up plans to blanket themselves with fibre optic internet which they then put forward for BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK) office’s approval hoping to get a slice of the £530m worth treasure chest.
It is wise to remember that after local authorities get an allocated sum of money for the fibre rollout, they need to provide match-funding from either the council or the private sector. Or both.
The problem arose when Fujitsu has stepped out of the broadband delivery game in some areas, saying that the company would struggle to make a profit provided it got the green light.
John Moore, North Yorkshire’s corporate director for finance and central services, who penned papers with BT to cover the country with fibre, was quoted as stating:
“Having two players in the race definitely helped because we had a dialogue and each company would know which one was winning in terms of the coverage we were looking for and what they might need to do to improve.”
Meanwhile, the EU is pondering whether or not to give the broadband delivery plans the green light seeing as it is not entirely happy with the fact that in many parts of the UK deploying fibre will be “a one-horse race”, excuse Broadbandwatcher for borrowing Mr Moore’s brilliant term.
