Suffolk’s Deputy County Council Leader, Christopher Hudson, has called on the local authority to consider making it a requirement of the planning process for property developers to ensure that their new build homes support superfast broadband connectivity.
The Suffolk Coastal District Council in England has said that a successful pilot of a rural fixed wireless broadband network, which covers a number of areas (Shingle Street, Aldeburgh etc.) and was first launched in 2012 (here), could soon be expanded to cover more locations.
The Better Broadband for Suffolk scheme, which is working with BT to make “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) services available to 95% of local homes and businesses “before 2018” and hopefully 100% by 2020, has become the latest Broadband Delivery UK project to confirm a clawback (gain share) linked reinvestment boost of £3.9 million.
The Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP, Dr Dan Poulter (Conservative), has secured a 30 minute debate on the topic of poor rural broadband and mobile connectivity for Monday next week, which will no doubt rehash many of the familiar concerns over the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK project.
A tearful 8 year old boy, Scott Burnett, from the remote Scottish hamlet of Clola in Buchan (Aberdeenshire) has written an emotional letter to BT in the hope that the operator might find a way to improve the local broadband provision. “Everyone in my school has broadband and I don’t“, said Scott.
The Suffolk County Council (SCC) today claims to have signed the United Kingdom’s first Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) based Superfast Extension Programme (SEP) contract with BT, which aims to extend the coverage of the operators “fibre optic broadband” (FTTC/P) network to 95% of local homes and businesses “before 2018“.