Commsworld to Complete Renfrewshire Network and WiFi Upgrades

Business UK broadband ISP Commsworld has revealed that they’re due to complete a major £15 million network and IT upgrade of Renfrewshire Council’s Wide Area Network (WAN), which forms part of the Connectivity as a Service (CaaS) contract that was signed a few years ago to help modernise local public sector sites.

The WAN upgrade, once finished, means that Commsworld has rolled out a major upgrade of connectivity across the entire council estate, providing much wider and better bandwidth (faster data speeds) across all sites. This includes 180 council buildings (e.g. schools, local libraries and community centres), as well as the region’s CCTV and traffic control systems.

The ISP also holds a related contract to upgrade and enhance the council’s Wi-Fi infrastructure. This will see a replacement Wi-Fi solution delivered across the council’s corporate buildings, increase and enhance Wi-Fi across all schools to 100% coverage, modernise the current public Wi-Fi service across the towns of Paisley, Johnstone and Renfrew, and extend Wi-Fi into community halls across the region.

Commsworld has also delivered a new telephony platform, part of a partnership with 8×8, that now enables interaction between staff and residents to work more flexibly, while improving its engagement with citizens in the region. As a result, around 5,000 council users, including 250 to 300 in its contact centre team, can now take calls with chat, email and Microsoft Teams – as well as secure payment capabilities – either from the office or home.

Craig Scott, Public Sector Business Development Director, said:

“We are delighted that we are set to complete Renfrewshire Council’s WAN migration as part of the CaaS contract, as well as introducing enhanced Wi-Fi to council sites, community halls and public Wi-Fi, plus enhanced telephony to workers and citizens in Renfrewshire.

As overall strategic partner for Renfrewshire Council, Commsworld was tasked with providing the best solution, which we delivered quickly and efficiently on time and within budget, and which significantly enhances communications between the council and its citizens.”

Councillor John Shaw said:

“Once completed the upgrade will greatly improve digital connectivity for the council and the people, businesses and communities of Renfrewshire.

“The enhanced fibre availability in Renfrewshire will not only enable faster and more reliable internet services, but will help to tackle digital exclusion, increase access to digital skills training and support future employment opportunities.”

Various other changes and improvements have also been made.