Posted: 08th Jun, 2011 By: MarkJ

The
Suffolk Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) charity, which seeks to tackle the economic, social and environmental needs of local rural communities, and its UK ISP trading arm -
Suffolk Online - have secured a
£250,000 grant from the
East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to build a superfast wireless broadband service in the east of the county.
It's understood that ISPs and telecoms firms will soon be invited to
tender for the work of building and managing the new network, which will include a community network that could potentially provide fibre optic access to every home and business in
Parham.
The CEO of Suffolk ACRE, Dr Wil Gibson, said:
"We know that traditional business models for delivering broadband and mobile services in rural areas are rarely profitable because of low population densities.
These new approaches supported by ACRE, the Plunkett Foundation and the Independent Networks Cooperative Association (through the Big Society Broadband Initiative) whereby communities can help themselves are likely to be the most cost effective way forward.
With the continual erosion of rural services the provision of next generation broadband is absolutely vital to the future wellbeing and prosperity of rural communities."
Jenny Stockman, Business Development Manager at Framlingham Technology Centre, added:
"A high speed fibre optic broadband connection has been absolutely essential for all of the businesses at the Centre for 10 years, we are therefore delighted with this opportunity to make this vital connection for Parham village and the businesses on the airfield business park."
No further details were made available, although Suffolk ACRE hopes to have the new services
fully operational by the end of 2011.