Posted: 23rd Sep, 2011 By: MarkJ
The
Swindon Borough Council has confirmed that it's close to signing a new deal with
UK Broadband (PCCW) and Capita that could save its failing efforts to operate a
FREE and sustainable wireless internet access service across the Borough (186,000 people).
The original
Digital City (
Signal) project, which offered a basic/slow Wi-Fi service for free and faster/more flexible options for a monthly fee of between £5.99 and £12.99, cost the council roughly
£400,000 (loan) to deploy but failed to generate the necessary return on that investment.
A UK Broadband Spokesperson said (Swindon Advertiser):"We’re delighted to be in discussions with Swindon to provide the first hybrid wireless network in the UK that includes 4G LTE. The hybrid network combines a high-speed wireless fixed link network with a 4G LTE high-speed mobile data network.
This means that high speed, reliable, fixed and mobile data services that offer a range of benefits for the public sector, businesses, and consumers would be available across Swindon during next year."
Precise details are unclear but the council will not be putting any investment capital in upfront. Sadly the trade off is that Swindon residents will
lose their access to a FREE service option, at least for now, which certainly takes away the main attraction.