FIRMS are set to challenge for a £20.5 million contract to increase superfast broadband coverage to 96 per cent of premises in North Yorkshire.

The county council has agreed to provide £12 million of the funding, while £7.3 million will come from the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK and £1 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

High quality broadband with a minimum speed of 25Mbps will have been brought to 91 per cent of premises across the county by next June in the first two phases of the project, which has cost £34.5 million.

All of the areas which will be covered in phase two remain unclear, as contractors may experience difficulties in some locations and decide to focus on other areas.

It is thought the areas which remain uncovered by superfast broadband following phase three will be the most isolated parts of the county, and are likely to include some areas of the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors.

In February, it was announced residents and traders in North Yorkshire without a fast connection could apply for a voucher worth up to £450 to meet the cost of installing satellite broadband equipment.

The council, which is set to study bids by firms to deliver phase three, has a further £682,000 put by to target communities where ther webe are anomalies in coverage once it has been decided where the phase three work will take place.

The company which wins the phase three contract will determine which areas it will cover. It is expected detailed planning work on the final superfast broadband scheme will start after Easter next year.

By the end of June, 830 fibre broadband cabinets had been switched on since the launch of the project.

The council’s broadband boss, Councillor Don Mackenzie, said it was important to realise that while it was not the council’s obligation to provide a service to areas where it was not commercially viable, it was committed to doing so.

‘‘The average cost of connecting a premise to superfast broadband has increased rapidly as we reach more remote, less populated communities. At the start of the programme in 2012 the cost was almost £200. That cost has now risen to almost £600.

‘‘We hope to have a clearer picture of which communities will be included in phase three once we have completed the procurement of the successful tenderer for this £20.5m contract.’’