Every telephone exchange in Yorkshire has been wired up for broadband following the injection of £2.2m of public sector cash.

Regional Development Agency (RDA) Yorkshire Forward confirmed that the last of 24 exchanges - at Ramsgill Dale in North Yorkshire - was enabled for broadband at the end of December.

BT had originally said that upgrading these two dozen exchanges would not have been commercially viable.

Following the investment, some 4,000 householders and 800 businesses are now served by telephone exchanges which offer access the same high-speed broadband services as the rest of the region.

However, while Yorkshire can now boast that the whole county is wired for broadband, it also has some of the lowest take-up rates for high-speed net access in the UK.

"This needs to be improved and, over the next few months, we will be doing everything we can to make it happen," said Jim Farmery, head of technology infrastructure at Yorkshire Forward.

Yorkshire Forward announced in March 2005 that it would stump up £2.2m to broadband-enable 24 exchanges that BT had previously announced were not commercially viable. ®

Related stories

• BT secures Welsh broadband deal (15 March 2006)
• Survey maps UK's broadband 'notspots' (2 February 2006)
• Northern Ireland boasts blanket broadband coverage (16 January 2006)
• West Midlands picks Avanti to fill broadband gaps (5 January 2006)
• The Cloud targets UK with city centre Wi-Fi hotspots (3 January 2006)
• 2005 in review UK poised for broadband choice (27 December 2005)
• Ireland gagging for affordable broadband (24 November 2005)
• BT looks to light up broadband black spots (12 September 2005)
• All of Scotland to get broadband (25 April 2005)
• NI heralds 100% broadband coverage (25 February 2005)
• Two regional broadband bodies fold (2 December 2004)
• Campaigners triumph in BT favouritism row (12 March 2004)
• Wiltshire chucks £7m at broadband (27 February 2004)