Commsworld Bring Gigabit Broadband to 110 Northumberland Schools UPDATE

Scotland-based UK business broadband ISP Commsworld has reached a new agreement with Northumberland County Council in England, which will see them take responsibility for rolling out a new gigabit-capable full fibre network to connect 110 schools in the county.

The announcement contains very little information or funding details, but we assume that the investment for this is probably coming from the UK government’s various programmes. Otherwise, Commsworld will be expected to plan, design, migrate and manage a new solution of significant size and scale to connect the 110 schools.

The proposed solution will replace the ageing infrastructure currently in place in primary and secondary schools, particularly in rural primaries, which do not have extensive in-house IT capabilities. The new network is also expected to include “full reliability, enhanced security and safeguarding support with a fully filtered real-time connectivity to ensure all pupils are kept safe online.”

Cllr Richard Wearmouth, Northumberland County Council, said:

“This is a pivotal moment for education in Northumberland. Soon our schools will be able to access the best connectivity to deliver far better digital education through a wide range of devices – bringing them up to date with the latest technologies.

I look forward to seeing the benefits of this new service over the coming years which will help provide the best learning experience, and security, for our young people and school staff alike.”

Steve Wood, Group Sales Director at Commsworld, said:

“We’re delighted to have been chosen by Northumberland County Council to deliver this contract. Our service will pave the way for a significant enhancement of capacity, resilience and security in schools so that they can gain access to the best digital resources available today and in the future.

We look forward to playing a key role in this digital journey with the Council and educators and pupils in Northumberland.”

As well as lacking any solid detail of the funding and network setup, the announcement also fails to clarify how long the deployment will take to reach all the schools. But we assume it’s closer to being completed within 1-3 years than 100 years.

UPDATE 20th Dec 2022

We’ve had a few more details from the local authority. Of the 110 schools, 70 will have services provided by Commsworld over infrastructure funded by UK government’s previous Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme and the North of Tyne project.