The Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) has managed to secure an addition £2.7 million in funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which will help its efforts to make superfast broadband available to over 90% of local people by around 2016.
The Notts Local Broadband Plan is currently supported by £4.25 million from local authorities, another £4.25 million from the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office and the private sector will be expected to contribute “no more than £8.5 million“. Including the extra EU cash this could push the total contract value to around £20 million.
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As it stands today the NCC has yet to award its tender to anybody, although it’s a good bet that BT will win since they’re the only operator left in the BDUK framework.
Notts Councillor Diana Meale said (here):
“The new European funding means our broadband roll out to businesses can go further and faster in Nottinghamshire than in many other places, improving our potential for growth.”
Unfortunately the new funding will extend their tender process by a further eight weeks because the Invitation to Tender must be adjusted to incorporate it, which means that Nottinghamshire probably won’t be in a position to award its contract until just after the government’s summer 2013 deadline.
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