Solihull Community Housing (SCH) has teamed up with CI-Net to cover the areas council flats with high-speed Internet access by using a mixture of pre-WiMAX (5.8GHz) wireless broadband technology and Powerline Ethernet (e.g. HomePlug).

CI-Net will use a base station located five miles away in Yardley to send the wireless connection to a rooftop receiver, which will then utilise the flats own electricity cabling to distribute the broadband service:


Residents will reportedly be able to receive service speeds similar to those offered by mainstream land-line broadband providers ('up to' 8Mbps). Solihull's Metropolitan Borough Council also hopes to promote the services 'Hotspot' style wireless coverage for business use too.

The ZDNet item notes that several charities are also involved in the project. ReCOM will provide recycled PCs and the Colebridge Trust will offer IT and Internet training to tenants. The first buildings are due to be hooked up next month.