Birmingham UK Tenders for GBP125m City Wide Wireless Broadband Network
Posted: 18th Nov, 2011 By: MarkJ
The Birmingham City Council (BCC) has put out a new tender for its 'Digital Districts: Birmingham Next Generation Wireless Connectivity' project, which aims to blanket the entire city with an "ultra-fast" wireless broadband internet access service.The move, which is estimated to cost between £100m and £125m +vat over a 6 year period, appears to build on last year's UK Broadband (PCCW) trial of a WiMAX based service at the Birmingham Science Park (here).
BCC Tender Statement
Birmingham City Council wishes to take positive action towards improving digital connectivity across Birmingham, and wants to take a lead in finding innovative solutions to encourage its citizens to be able to benefit from the digital revolution.
This contract provides an opportunity to develop commercial models in partnership with Birmingham for wireless connectivity, working with BCC as a sole corporate landlord, facilitating commercial negotiations for access to, and use of, the City’s 230+ tower blocks, 95 000+ lamp posts and other City Council owned assets.
BCC seeks a partner who can provide a wholesale, open access digital wireless network which will enable increased broadband speeds compared to 3G, increased levels of accessibility to high speed Mobile Broadband services and a ubiquitous, high speed, innovative service and product proposition to help tackle digital exclusion.
Birmingham City Council wishes to take positive action towards improving digital connectivity across Birmingham, and wants to take a lead in finding innovative solutions to encourage its citizens to be able to benefit from the digital revolution.
This contract provides an opportunity to develop commercial models in partnership with Birmingham for wireless connectivity, working with BCC as a sole corporate landlord, facilitating commercial negotiations for access to, and use of, the City’s 230+ tower blocks, 95 000+ lamp posts and other City Council owned assets.
BCC seeks a partner who can provide a wholesale, open access digital wireless network which will enable increased broadband speeds compared to 3G, increased levels of accessibility to high speed Mobile Broadband services and a ubiquitous, high speed, innovative service and product proposition to help tackle digital exclusion.
Computing notes that any interested parties now have until 16th December 2011 to respond, although it's not yet known whether 'UK Broadband' will bid. The tender warns that the successful partner must be "prepared to make a significant investment" in equipment, systems and services.
Certainly £125m is a huge amount of money for building a wireless network and could raise concerns about its economic viability, especially given the shaky history and commercially sensitive nature of city-wide wireless deployments. O2 , Virgin Media , BT and Sky Broadband might not be so pleased, given that they all have similar services and ambitions.
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