South Norfolk UK Claims 100% Coverage of 10Mbps+ Broadband

The South Norfolk Council claims to have been successful in its ambition, which sought to be the first rural district in East Anglia to ensure that every home and business can order a broadband ISP connection with a minimum download speed of 10Mbps. But to get it you’ll have to sign-up with a wireless ISP.

At present the state aid supported Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBfN) project with Openreach (BT) is already working to ensure that 95% of Norfolk can access a fixed line “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) network by March 2020 (here) or 91% in South Norfolk alone (at present the whole of Norfolk is on 92%+). Most of this is based on hybrid fibre FTTC technology.

The Government and Ofcom have separately been working to establish a new “legally binding” Universal Service Obligation (USO) from 2020 (here), which will aim to cater for those who miss out on the BBfN project. Under this system consumers in such areas will be able to request a 10Mbps+ capable broadband speed (download) from a designated ISP (uploads of 1Mbps+).

In response the South Norfolk Council last year established a new agreement with InTouch Systems (here) that aimed to support the deployment of a new 10Mbps+ capable wireless broadband network in digital disadvantaged parts of the region (i.e. fixed wireless broadband ISP ITSwisp).

The work now appears to have completed and as a result there are a total of 33 wireless transmitters (20 on masts and buildings, 13 on churches, 24 located in South Norfolk and 9 just over the border). Apparently many of those already using the network are receiving speeds of up to 30Mbps, with 10Mbps being the minimum.

Michael Edney, Deputy Leader of South Norfolk Council, said:

“Once again we are leading the way in making sure that all of our residents and businesses have access to decent Broadband speeds. Working with InTouch Systems we are providing access to wireless Internet for homes and businesses who have not been able to benefit from the work done by Better Broadband for Norfolk.

The Council will not directly benefit from our investment, but we are doing it, because it’s the right thing to do for our residents. A decent broadband service is essential in nearly every aspect of our modern lives – shopping, homework, video streaming, social networks and so much more. The previous broadband speeds left some residents and businesses feeling excluded and frustrated making it vitally important that we did something to help – and now we have.”

At this point we note that the council originally invested £570,000 into the Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBFN) programme. By comparison their agreement with InTouch Systems seems to involve a separate investment of £330,000 to deliver broadband into the areas not covered.

We should point out that ITSwisp is NOT a designated USO provider and they have also not as yet expressed a serious interest to Ofcom in becoming one. In other words, this could perhaps be seen as a temporary solution until the real USO or something better arrives.

On this front we note that the provider’s website primarily only promotes packages with download speeds of up to 8Mbps, while the 10Mbps package only appears to be available if you have a grant from the Broadband Delivery UK based Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme. But there’s a problem here because that voucher scheme is due to end this year.

Another issue is that the ISP’s website only promotes the top package as offering speeds of “up to” 10Mbps, which is no longer allowed by the Advertising Standards Authority (i.e. they should be using ‘average speeds’ as measured at peak time). Nevertheless Michael Edney does clearly state that “many” users are receiving around 30Mbps on the network, which suggests that the 10Mbps figure is probably being conservative.

However if you do take their 10Mbps package then the subsidy should cover any installation costs and locals will then only need to pay £31.99 per month on a 12 month contract. Granted it’s not the cheapest for such speeds but if you’ve struggled to get above 2Mbps before then it’s still quite a big improvement.