County to put more money into drive for faster broadband
Wednesday, 19th September 2012.
Leading county councillors will next week be asked to approve an additional £1.3million to help connect Suffolk’s rural households and businesses to high speed broadband.
At a special meeting of Suffolk County Council’s cabinet, which will be attended by MPs and other council leaders, the latest developments in the Better Broadband For Suffolk campaign will be discussed, along with details of how the programme might be rolled out.
If approved, the additional funding will add to the £10 million already pledged by Suffolk County Council. It means Suffolk will meet the requirement of matching pound for pound the funding central government has awarded to Suffolk to create a broadband network fit for the 21st century.
The latest milestone comes after an overwhelmingly positive response from more than 12,000 Suffolk businesses and residents.
This smashed the 10,000 target set by Cllr Mark Bee, Suffolk County Council’s leader and chairman of the Better Broadband for Suffolk campaign.
He said: “Everyday, Suffolk is moving closer to a broadband revolution.
“We were one of the first four counties to actively go out to the market and invite bids, we have overwhelming public support behind us and if this additional money is approved, we’ll have all the public funding in place to reach the next stage.
“I’m thrilled by the progress we’ve made and look forward to seeing months of hard work and negotiations materialise into superfast broadband access across Suffolk.”
The aim of the programme is to extend access to broadband to the areas of Suffolk which currently have slow speeds.
By 2015, over 90 per cent of premises in the county should be able to access superfast broadband (24mbps).
The remaining ten per cent should have had a significant increase in available speed and reliability (a minimum of 2mbps).
By the end of the year, the first businesses and homes should be connected.
The special cabinet meeting is on Monday morning.
At a special meeting of Suffolk County Council’s cabinet, which will be attended by MPs and other council leaders, the latest developments in the Better Broadband For Suffolk campaign will be discussed, along with details of how the programme might be rolled out.
If approved, the additional funding will add to the £10 million already pledged by Suffolk County Council. It means Suffolk will meet the requirement of matching pound for pound the funding central government has awarded to Suffolk to create a broadband network fit for the 21st century.
The latest milestone comes after an overwhelmingly positive response from more than 12,000 Suffolk businesses and residents.
This smashed the 10,000 target set by Cllr Mark Bee, Suffolk County Council’s leader and chairman of the Better Broadband for Suffolk campaign.
He said: “Everyday, Suffolk is moving closer to a broadband revolution.
“We were one of the first four counties to actively go out to the market and invite bids, we have overwhelming public support behind us and if this additional money is approved, we’ll have all the public funding in place to reach the next stage.
“I’m thrilled by the progress we’ve made and look forward to seeing months of hard work and negotiations materialise into superfast broadband access across Suffolk.”
The aim of the programme is to extend access to broadband to the areas of Suffolk which currently have slow speeds.
By 2015, over 90 per cent of premises in the county should be able to access superfast broadband (24mbps).
The remaining ten per cent should have had a significant increase in available speed and reliability (a minimum of 2mbps).
By the end of the year, the first businesses and homes should be connected.
The special cabinet meeting is on Monday morning.
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