The Cumbria County Council (CCC) has revealed that it is working with the governments Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) agency to make a minimum broadband download speed of 10Mbps available to everybody in the area by 2015.

The target would put Cumbria well ahead of the national goal, which seeks to make a minimum broadband speed of just 2Mbps available to everybody by the same date. The move is part of the governments wider work to bring "super-fast" broadband to the region, as first announced during October 2010 (here).


The project - Accessible Cumbria - will be put out to tender over the next few months and the first work could then begin before the end of 2011. It's understood that any big ISP seeking to bid for the contract, such as BT or Virgin Media UK, would also benefit from up to £20 million in subsidy support from the government.

The scheme, which will probably involve a commercially owned Digital Hub (details), will aim to support maximum speeds of up to 100Mbps. Work will also be conducted to improve the regions Mobile Broadband communications.

The government is expected to announce similar pilots for other parts of the country next year.