Digital Derbyshire is delivering the county's biggest ever broadband transformation

At Derbyshire County Council we understand that as more people use the internet for their day to day activities, a quick and reliable broadband connection is becoming as essential as electricity, gas and other utilities. The council, through Digital Derbyshire, is committed to building on the level of investment already made in digital infrastructure and to explore emerging technologies to ensure Derbyshire continues to be a great place to live, learn, work, invest and visit.

We're working in partnership with Openreach to lay hundreds of miles of fibre optic cable, bringing better, faster broadband to parts of Derbyshire.

It means thousands of homes and businesses can now order fibre-enabled broadband from an internet service provider of their choice and are connected with the appropriate infrastructure to increase competitiveness, boost productivity, create employment, explore new markets, reduce the need to travel whilst also meeting future demands of consumers and businesses.

By building on the commercial coverage already provided, we're aiming for 98% of homes and businesses in Derbyshire to be able to access speeds of at least 24Mbs per second by the end of 2020.

Our programme currently consists of 2 delivery phases. Phase 1 began in 2014, and has provided better, faster broadband to over 91,000 properties. Phase 2 started in autumn 2016, and will give an additional 17,000 properties the capability to order fibre-enabled broadband by the end of 2020. However, we're always looking to further develop the infrastructure as and when funding becomes available.

Digital Derbyshire is a multi million pound partnership led by Derbyshire County Council and Openreach, and is supported by the UK Government, D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and the European Regional Development Fund.

Find out how fibre broadband works and how it's benefiting Derbyshire in the short film.