Fibre GarDen to Start Community FTTP Broadband “Big Dig” in Cumbria

The Digital Dales (Fibre GarDen) project, which is a community owned co-operative that aims to construct a new superfast broadband (30-100Mbps capable) Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in rural parts of Garsdale and Dentdale (Cumbria, England), has confirmed that the construction phase will begin on Monday 5th October 2014.

After a bumpy start and some dips of uncertainty the project, which during July 2014 secured £382,500 of crucial public funding from the Government’s £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund (here), is now finally able to start building. As a result Fibre GarDen is currently the only other non-BT based RCBF funded operator, other than Gigaclear, to receive public funding support.

The project has also secured £35,000 from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Sustainable Development Fund and by completion it’s expected that the new network will have cost around £650,000. Customers will then pay £30 per month for a 30Mbps connection or £50 for 100Mbps, with a free basic telephony service and the opportunity to upgrade this to the same quality as a good BT line for an additional £2 to £3 per month.

The ITS Technology Group has also already signed on to help build and manage the 64km long fibre optic network (here), which “depending on the winter weather” is now due to complete by September 2015. The latest update suggests that the first subscribers could be connected by the end of this year.

Locals are now being invited to attend two launch events that should reveal more details about their roll-out strategy, with the first meeting being held in Dent on Wednesday 24th September at the Memorial Hall between 7:30pm and 9pm.