By: MarkJ - 11 February, 2012 (7:13 AM) - Score: 1405 - Fixed Line Broadband
The governments Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office, which has a budget of £730m (could rise to £1.03bn by 2017) to help 90% of "people in each local authority area" gain access to a superfast broadband (24Mbps+) ISP service by 2015, looks set to spend more than £1 Million on legal services by the end of its programme.John Penrose, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, confirmed (PC Pro):
"[BDUK] tendered for supply of legal services in April 2011 to support delivery of the broadband and related programmes. The cumulative value of this contract will exceed £1 million by the end of the programmes in 2015. The period between the published opening of the tender and closure was four weeks."
"[BDUK] tendered for supply of legal services in April 2011 to support delivery of the broadband and related programmes. The cumulative value of this contract will exceed £1 million by the end of the programmes in 2015. The period between the published opening of the tender and closure was four weeks."
The legal costs are expected to cover contract negotiations, state aid applications, grant agreements and general advice for local authorities (among other things). To be fair it's not uncommon for expensive legal services to gobble up public money, especially on such large projects.
Meanwhile local councils are busy racing to meet the governments end of February 2012 deadline for submission and approval of their "draft" Local Broadband Plans (LBP). Most should make the target (details) but some do not intend to submit a bid (e.g. North Tyneside) and a third risk being late.
The final plan then "needs to be agreed" by the end of April 2012 and those that fail to meet this goal could have their funding pulled.
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Comments: 7
cyberdoylePosted: 11 February, 2012 - 8:20 AM
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No wonder nothing happens in this country, what a sad state of affairs. What we need is men of fibre, moral and optic. We are being held to ransom by suits and the old boy's club.
SomersetPosted: 11 February, 2012 - 8:51 AM
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So no legal people involved with B4RN? No contracts etc.
Br0kenTeleph0nePosted: 11 February, 2012 - 7:28 PM
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Well done. DCMS still hasn't answered my Freedom of Information Act request for the details of how much they paid KPMG and Pinsent Masons http://bit.ly/yDdnfd. It initially said the information would be published "shortly" on its "transparency" website. That was in August 2011.
I reminded DCMS in January that I am still expecting a reply. Still noting. So much for transparency.
alanPosted: 12 February, 2012 - 9:42 AM
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"90% of people in each local authority area" gain access to a superfast broadband"
So with our local authority of Suffolk which has large towns like Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Lowestoft, Stowmarket etc, that 90% target can easily be reached.
This leaves us in rural villages with 100% copper cable without a prayer of getting upgraded.
In my case the parent exchange is 6 miles away and some sections fed by aerial overhead cable, so can you imagine the cost of providing fibre that distance, before the customers are even costed - ridiculous
BobPosted: 12 February, 2012 - 11:28 AM
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Most of Suffolk is flat so running fibre to a suitable Cabinet and then point topoint wirles links to a number of villages with a WiFi network at each village should make it quite viable with a modest amount of subsidy. The big problem is the local councils will turn it into an expensive empire building excercise
dragoneastPosted: 13 February, 2012 - 3:43 AM
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The big problem (which even the top lawyers can't answer) is how much consumers are prepared to pay for their "end" of the connection. Fixed-Wi Fi needs a domestic aerial receiver which cost £99 upwards plus install, depending on the level of subsidy, or how costs are loaded on a small scheme, and usually a higher level of monthly subscription than the "cheap as chips" providers with economies of scale.
B4RN shows how local communities can do their own thing. But all the deprived communities have to find their own way that makes the economics work, simples. It's the way of the world.
TonyGuyPosted: 14 February, 2012 - 12:55 AM
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To be honest 1 million over the whole of the UK isn't massive by any means. The whole project itself is vast and complex so certainly you expect some legal expense (which is never cheap!).
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