Hampshire UK Council Offer Grants for Alternative Rural Broadband Services

The Hampshire County Council (HCC) has quietly launched a new Alternative Broadband Pilot scheme, which borrows an idea from Wales by offering grants worth up to £300 to help “Not Spot” homes in rural areas install an “alternative” broadband service that can provide broadband speeds of more than 2Mbps+.

The scheme, which is only available to premises that “fall into the last 10% of properties“, is currently looking to be trialled by an initial 10 – 15 households and small businesses. Apparently a “range of the new alternative technologies” are involved.

HCC Statement

A one-off grant of up to £300 is available towards the installation of an ‘alternative’ broadband service that will provide you with improved broadband speeds greater than 2Mbps. Broadband delivered over standard telephone lines also known as ADSL, is excluded for the purposes of this grant, as these telephone lines will be upgraded through the commercial market.

The alternative technology trial is designed to inform Hampshire County Council’s broadband plans. Although the Government has made a commitment that every premise in the country will have access to broadband by 2015, the funding available will only be adequate to deliver superfast broadband to 90% of the population. The local authority’s role is to improve speeds for those people living in the predominantly rural areas that the commercial market currently doesn’t reach.

An article on Thinkbroadband today suggests that satellite ISP Bentley Walker is already involved with the pilot, although it’s unclear what other operators and technologies (if any) might also be taking part. Further details can be found below.

Alternative Broadband Pilot
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/broadband/broadband-pilot.htm