Posted: 23rd Dec, 2010 By: MarkJ

The
Clackmannanshire Council in
Scotland (UK) has been given a grant worth
£200,000 by the
Scottish Parliament's Rural Broadband Challenge Fund to help the rural area gain access to faster broadband ISP services. The successful '
ClacksMax' bid focuses on the business '
not-spot' areas of the
Forth Valley and will use a pilot WiMAX wireless broadband solution to deliver download speeds of up to 20Mbps (2Mbps minimum).
As a minimum the pilot will cover the communities of
Tillicoultry,
Alva East,
Alloa West,
Bandeath,
Throsk,
South Alloa,
Cambusbarron and parts of rural south west
Stirling. However the exact reach of the signal won't be known until the equipment is in place. Householders will also benefit.
Peter Sunderland, Chair of the Forth Valley and Lomond LEADER Group, said:
"The beauty of the solution is that it's not limited just to businesses, householders in the surrounding communities will also benefit".
Councillor Eddie Carrick, portfolio holder for sustainability, added:
"I'm delighted that our bid has been recognised as a strong one and that we've got the funding to take this forward. Clackmannanshire has a great transport infrastructure that puts it at the centre of Scottish business. Now we can build an electronic infrastructure to match that."
The pilot was one of only five bids in Scotland to be approved by the Scottish Parliament last Friday. The commissioning and purchase of equipment will start in the New Year, although the service itself is expected to be
ready by Spring 2011.