BT Global services have won an £8.3 million contract with The Northern Grid for Learning. The deal involves BT delivering a regional wide area network (WAN) to schools and local authorities.

Northern Grid is a non-profit, regional broadband consortium that is owned by several local authorities in the North East of England.

The current contract with Northern Grid expires in July 2012, and BT are expected to deliver an improved and more cost effective service. The London Grid signed a similar deal with Virgin which plans to move 2,000 schools in the capital onto to a new, fibre optic network.