Government unveils super-connected cities plans

The Government has revealed which cities are eligible to apply to be one of the UK's "super-connected" areas.

London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast are certain to benefit from boosted BT and Virgin infrastructure, expected to deliver 80-100Mbps broadband speeds.

Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield, as well as any city with over 150,000 dwellings are all eligible to apply. They have until 13 February to show how they would use their status as a super-connected city to boost business, particularly SMEs.

We must ensure the UK has a broadband network fit for the digital age.

The announcement follows Chancellor George Osborne's revelation in the autumn statement that up to 10 cities would share a 100 million pot to boost broadband. Now 14 cities could get funding.

"We must ensure the UK has a broadband network fit for the digital age," said culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.

"Transforming communities into super-connected cities will enable them to compete with the world's top digital cities. It will help them attract new jobs and new investment and make the UK a place where digital businesses look to come."

The successful applicants will be announced in the Budget in March. Money allocated to each city will be announced in July.

Guidance for bidders can be found here.

BT welcomed the announcement, saying it was a "helpful development."

"BT is already upgrading large parts of these cities with fibre broadband and these funds could help us go even further," the company said.

"It's important for the public and private sector to work together if the UK is to have the best possible broadband network, so we look forward to working with the selected cities to see what can be achieved."

Earlier this month, BT announced another 178 additional fibre exchanges, covering 1.8 million homes and businesses.