BOB Redwood’s letter of January 17 was prompted by an article of January 14 quoting Coun James Alexander about the Core fibre network in central York.

It is vital that access to super-fast broadband is at the top of the agenda in York, but a debate on this subject should be centred on the available facts. The article only referred to the York Core and made no mention of BT’s role and investment in making York super-connected.

No other company or organisation is doing more to bring high-speed broadband to businesses and communities in York and North Yorkshire.

BT’s commercial roll out and Superfast North Yorkshire (SFNY), a partnership led by BT and North Yorkshire County Council, has brought high-speed fibre broadband within reach of more than 47,500 residential premises and businesses in the York area, including many rural locations.

SFNY was the first project in the country to use Government funding through the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme and is well ahead of the rest of the UK in rolling out this technology.

By the end of the project only a very small percentage of premises in the York area will not be able get fibre broadband.

BT has already installed fibre-to-the-premise technology with speeds of up to 330Mbps to more than 4,500 businesses and residential premises within the city walls.

Our ethernet products have been available to businesses for years, so we are helping the city achieve its target of becoming the digital infrastructure capital of the north.

I am one of more than 850 BT people who live in York and North Yorkshire. Many of us are proud to be at the forefront of this massive infrastructure programme.

I welcome debate on how this is best achieved, but all networks should be promoted equally.

Tom Keeney, BT Regional Director, Yorkshire and Humber.