North Yorks says two bidders important for fibre broadband projects

John Moore of North Yorkshire's publicly funded fibre broadband project has spoken of the importance of having two bidders competing for its broadband contract.

Mr Moore, the county's director for finance and central services, told PC Pro that the decision for BT and Fujitsu to apply for the contract "definitely helped", as the council was able to develop a dialogue with both companies.

The ability to play one bidder off against the other made it easier for the local authority to make the best use of its budget for the project, he explained.

"We took the stance that it was not a one-horse race and although a few parties dropped out early in the process, Fujitsu and BT ran a good race between them," Mr Moore added.

BT was this week awarded the county's broadband contract, with the telecoms giant set to roll out fibre optic connectivity to 90 per cent of local properties by the end of 2014.