The Kent County Council (KCC) has confirmed that it plans to spend a whopping £44.3 million on deployments of faster broadband internet access services over the next four years, which will compliment its existing £1.5 million Superfast Broadband Pilot Fund (here) and other money.

Computing reports that invitations to tender have reportedly already been sent out, with the winning contract being open to a mix of four potential solutions: fibre optic networks, wired alternative networks, wireless and innovative/emerging submissions.

The move suggests that KCC is quite confident of its ability to gain the necessary funding, which is interesting since £42m is supposed to be coming from the governments Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) budget. BDUK is expected to announce the next 4 or 5 projects on 27th May 2011, yet so far it has only set aside up to around £10m for each.

The framework is expected to begin on 15th August 2011, although as with all such submissions the plan is subject to BDUK's approval and funding, which could happen in May 2011 or later this year. Meanwhile 6.6% of households in Kent have no broadband access and 40% can't even get a fixed line connection speed of 2Mbps.

It's perhaps no coincidence that the one-day NextGen Roadshow will roll into Kent this Friday, thus boosting the profile of superfast broadband connectivity. Crucially it also brings together suppliers, community stakeholders, investors and expert advisors.