Connecting Devon and Somerset decline BT broadband contract bid

BT's best offer did not meet value for money standards, Connecting Devon and Somerset said

A bid by BT for a £35m contract to provide broadband access to people in Devon and Somerset has been rejected.

The Connecting Devon and Somerset partnership said BT's best offer did not meet value for money standards, and that it had now reissued the tender for the work.

It also said the company could not meet a target of achieving 95% superfast broadband coverage by the end of 2017.

BT said it had made its "best possible offer" and was "disappointed".

In a statement, it said: "BT is committed to making high-speed fibre broadband as widely available as possible and we are disappointed that we have not yet been able to reach agreement on the next phase of the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme.

"We believe we have made the best possible offer to take superfast broadband coverage beyond the current target of around 90% by the end of next year, taking into account the challenging and remote nature of some locations in the two counties."

The company said its offer would give an additional 34,400 households and businesses in the two counties access to superfast broadband by the middle of 2020.

It said a "huge engineering operation" would be required and estimated it would take more than 15 years for it to get a return on its investment.

"We will continue to work to try to find a solution," it added.