Posted: 09th May, 2011 By: MarkJ


Edinburgh-based
Inkspotwifi, which specialises in providing cost-effective wired and wireless broadband solutions, has proposed a new plan to the
Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) that would see the firm
improve the regions internet access prospects by installing Wi-Fi (wireless) access points on local
street lights.
Inkspotwifi's Co-Director, Alex Cliff, said (This is Lincolnshire):"Lincolnshire presents an interesting opportunity as it has many communities with very poor internet connectivity and it is relatively flat, meaning that these communities can be well serviced using wireless technology.
In theory, this could cover the whole of the county, however the cost of this will be substantial. This benefits anyone who wants a faster internet connection, whether it be an individual household, a holidaymaker in a caravan or a business that needs a high bandwidth connection for multiple users.
We take a high bandwidth telecoms connection and distribute it via a wireless signal. We hope that the first network could be operational eight to 12 weeks after our proposal has been approved.
We have been very impressed by the pro-activity of the public authorities in considering our request to utilise some lampposts for this project. We will have a few remaining permissions to obtain but we hope they will not be contentious."
The local
Highways Scrutiny Committee is expected to rule on whether or not to approve Inkspotwifi's plan by Monday
16th May 2011. If successful it would mark a significant change in thinking as the council would be allowing publicly funded property to be used for commercial purposes.
It could also benefit LCC's own plans to bid for a slice of the £530m that has been set aside by the UK governments Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office (
here). The council is currently waiting to hear the result of this bid.