Broadband

Borders Broadband Project

The Borders Broadband project has been developed to tackle the areas of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire where limited broadband services exist or where it is unlikely the commercial market will provide Next Generation Access (NGA) services in the coming years.

The Borders Broadband Project is aiming to ensure everyone in the two counties has access to at least a 2Mb service and that NGA is available to as many business and residential premises as possible.  The focus of the project is on areas which won’t benefit from commercial investment in broadband, which are largely the more rural areas that do not have the population mass to generate the returns to make the investment viable.

The project will involve gap funding a telecommunication company to deliver and operate a wholesale broadband service that will lead to a major improvement in the capacity and speed of broadband in both counties.  Finance has been made available through a partnership between Broadband Delivery UK (£14.5M), Herefordshire Council (£6M) and Gloucestershire County Council (£7.5M).  This funding will be use to bridge the gap between the cost of delivering the infrastructure and the commercial return and therefore the contracted supplier will also be providing a significant financial contribution to the project.

There is significant opportunity for businesses and households in being connected to broadband.  It supports business efficiencies and growth, preserves and ensures that economies can remain competitive; enables citizens to enhance their skills and learning and to benefit from online services and offerings, including key public services.

To help the argument for investment to improve Broadband in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire more than 10,000 businesses and households in the two counties completed a questionnaire on broadband use and demand.  The results show a high level of dissatisfaction with current services, a strong desire to use the internet much more than currently possible and high recognition that broadband is essential for modern living.  86% of businesses who responded see faster broadband as very important to them and key to create business advantage.

Please see briefing notes for more background and the latest news about the Borders Broadband project.

In addition to the Borders Broadband project which focuses on the most rural parts of the counties, BT continue to announce their own plans to boost access to high-speed broadband in areas considered commercially viable (which are generally the more highly populated localities).  To check if the new announcements affect you visit:  http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

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